By Cindy Christy Fertsch
Brigantine resident, Tim Crann, an avid fisherman was on his way back from a Sea Bass expedition with some buddies Saturday afternoon when he caught the sighting of a lifetime.
“I was about two miles from shore off of Atlantic City, when we saw a Humpback Whale breach,” said Crann. “My boat is 26 feet and the whale was much larger. I believe it was a full-grown Humpback whale.”
The whale rolled onto its side and slowly slapped the water’s surface with one fin again and again. This is a common behavior of Humpback Whales known as pec slapping. Then, to their amazement, it breached once more.
The water’s depth was only 40-50 feet in that spot. Crann reported seeing a lot of Bunker fish that he believes most likely brought the large mammal so close to shore.
While at the helm, Crann caught an astounding video of the encounter and shared it with Shore Local, where it went viral, reaching a whopping 700,000 people. The engagement with shares and comments was also immense. Some expressed concern about the whales health in light of the recent elevated deaths along the New Jersey coast. However, Crann replied “I am not a marine biologist, but the whale looked very happy and healthy to me.”
The crew had just finished scooping up mylar balloon remnants out of the open water, as they do on a regular basis. One of the crewmates jokingly said that maybe that was their reward for doing good. Either way, it is certain to be a fish story they will tell again and again.
