The Marine Mammal Stranding Center will try to figure out how to move the whale off a sandbar
LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP -- A 25-ton baby humpback whale was found dead on a sandbar off the southern tip of Long Beach Island when a photographer taking aerial photos spotted it Wednesday.
Technicians from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center were out gathering information on the humpback Friday, a stranding center employee said in an email.
Pilot Ted Kingston noticed the baby whale around midday on a sandbar on the ocean side of Little Egg Inlet off Holgate, he said by phone Friday morning.
Kingston, who runs Ted Kingston Photography, said he was on a sightseeing flight along the coast when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He circled back and saw the whale southeast of Long Beach Island.
Kingston contacted the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine that evening. The MMSC said on Facebook it's trying to figure out a way to remove the mammal.
In October, a videographer using a drone recorded a humpback swimming in the ocean off Seaside Park in what turned out to be a busy season of whale sightings along the New Jersey coast.
Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.