Breaching whale lands on fishing boat off Manomet Point in Plymouth
PLYMOUTH – A breaching whale landed on the bow of a fishing boat on Sunday, though fortunately no one was injured.
It happened around 10 a.m. a few hundred yards off of Manomet Point, where whales have been in the area feeding. Last week, a photographer captured an image of a whale surfacing not far from a paddleboarder.
Because the whales have been in the area, a Plymouth Harbormaster boat was monitoring the waters this weekend as a precaution.
"This is definitely both a sense of excitement and concern," said Regina Asmutis-Silvia of North American Whale and Dolphin Conservation.
A man on the shore captured photographs Sunday as the whale breached and landed on the boat's bow before sliding back into the water.
The boat did not capsize. Harbormaster Chad Hunter said the fishermen headed back to the boat ramp and left the area.
Asmutis-Silvia said the whale's actions weren't intentional. "They're not going to pay attention to what's going on around them. So they're not looking around for kayakers or paddleboarders or even boaters. They're just kind of focusing on food," she explained.
Hunter said that while there have been concerns about boaters getting too close to the whales in recent weeks, it appears everyone, in this case, was "doing the right thing" and simply fishing when the whale breached.
Photographer Brooke Perry scurried down to the Plymouth coastline when she learned the whales were close. "Really nice for tourists to be able to see them up close because a lot of time you can't," the Ohio woman said.
"Even a small humpback whale, you're still talking about something that's probably 50 to 60 thousand pounds," said Asmutis-Silvia.
Massachusetts Environmental Police are investigating.
