Hundreds of whales have been spotted cresting the Hudson River recently, and researchers are attributing their triumphant return to cleaner water.
The Hudson has a long history of pollution and contamination, dating all the way back to the 1940s.
Between the ’40s and the ’70s, General Electric’s manufacturing facilities in Fort Edward dumped 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the water.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can be found in sediment, water, and wildlife throughout the river’s ecosystem, as well as in people.
In 2009, GE began Phase 1 of cleaning up those PCBs, which saw the river dredged to remove contaminated soil.
Efforts to clean up the Hudson, combined with several successful environmental policies, have prompted the return of the whales.
In fact, these cleaner waters have caused a 540% increase in the number of whales spotted in just eight years.
The non-profit organization Gotham Whale began tracking whale sightings in the New York City area in 2010.
At that time, there were only five reported sightings.
In 2018, a total of 272 whales were spotted, nearly all of them humpbacks, and researchers couldn’t be happier to welcome these massive, awe-inspiring mammals back to the Hudson.
Former New York Aquarium curator and Gotham Whale founder Paul Sieswerda said lessening river pollution has had a dramatic effect on whale sightings.
“So the Hudson River, instead of bringing out pollution to the areas we see whales – the lower estuary and the are aright outside the mouth of the Hudson – it’s bringing nutrients,” he said.
These nutrients are feeding tiny algae, which in turn attract the bigger fish menhaden, which just happen to be a humpback whale’s favorite snack.
Gotham Whales has just kicked off its ninth season partnering with American Princess Cruises.
New York natives and tourists alike can have the chance to take to the waters and see if they can spot any beautiful humpback whales themselves.
The cruises run from May 4 to November 3 .
The opportunity to catch even a glimpse of a humpback whale is one that should never be passed up.
As Sieswerda said, the mammal’s size alone is a breathtaking sight to see.
“They’re like buses,” he said, “and to think that’s a living animal and to think that it has the power and grace to completely jump out of the water when they breach is a spectacle that I think is unique to the animal kingdom.”
His organization has been identifying individual humpback whales using the underside of their tail, much like a fingerprint.
They’re currently building a catalog of the whales that have been spotted near New York City, and so far they have up to 110 recorded.
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Do they have a favorite whale? WHALE of course they do, and his name is Jerry, named after Jerry Garcia.
This particular humpback was first spotted from a boat named after Garcia’s band, Grateful Dead’s, song “Ship of Fools.”
Jerry was also spotted on what would have been the late Garcia’s birthday, so this guy basically named himself.
As Sieswerda said, “There’s no way we couldn’t call him Jerry.”
h/t: Patch