A video showed a whale nearly capsizing a motorboat while sending a man overboard near the coast of New Jersey on Saturday.
The 26-foot Minke whale had reportedly charged the boat in the Double Creek Channel of Barnegat Bay that afternoon, dying shortly after the incident, according to CBS News.
None of the passengers reported injuries among themselves.
NEW: A whale has passed away after colliding with a boat in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey.
Insane footage shows the whale bashing the boat, nearly capsizing it, and sending a passenger overboard.
According to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, the whale was in very shallow… pic.twitter.com/N2hQPV4Sny
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 3, 2025
At 2:45 p.m. that day, the New Jersey State Police Marine Unit notified the Marine Mammal Stranding Center that a whale was in the bay.
About an hour later, a witness reported that a boater had just struck the whale and that a man had fallen overboard.
But on Monday, New Jersey State Police said that the whale had actually charged the 21-foot powerboat.
After receiving the report on Saturday, an MMSC official boarded a vessel to inspect the whale, which was already confirmed dead, according to a news release published that day.
The dead whale was at that point stranded on a shallow sandbar just outside of the bay.
Because of the tide, the MMSC and wildlife officials could not get any closer than 30 yards to the mammal.
The MMSC said it would tow the whale on Monday to a nearby New Jersey state park for an examination.
“Boaters should be advised to use caution in the area north of Double Creek Channel in Barnegat Bay and to keep a minimum of 150 feet away from the whale carcass for your safety,” the MMSC said Saturday.
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While the MMSC initially reported the whale to be about 20 feet long, it reported on Monday that the whale was actually a 26-foot female, according to its Instagram post.
The MMSC, working with the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society and Cornell University, said it performed a necropsy on the whale before burying it on the beach.
“Superficial cuts were present externally, with bruising present in the blubber and muscle in the areas of trauma on the dorsal side. Blood was present in the lungs,” the MMSC news release said of the necropsy results.
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