Whales surface, capsizing fishing boats off the coast of New Hampshire
Two fishermen are safe after a whale collided with their boat, causing it to capsize off the coast of New Hampshire, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The incident occurred on Tuesday near Odiorne Point State Park in Rye. The two men were thrown into the sea and reported that they had seen the whale earlier and were trying to keep their distance.
“He went down, disappeared for a few minutes, and the next thing we knew, he suddenly surfaced right next to our boat,” fisherman Ryland Kenney told WMUR-TV.
The Coast Guard shared on X (formerly Twitter) that they received a distress call reporting that a 23-foot (7-meter) center console boat had capsized after a whale breached out of the water.
“The people aboard were thrown into the water as the boat capsized,” the Coast Guard posted, adding that a marine emergency broadcast was issued, and Portsmouth Harbor Coast Guard Station was alerted. “A good Samaritan rescued both individuals from the water. No injuries were reported,” the Coast Guard confirmed.
The rescuers turned out to be two young brothers.
“I saw it come up, and I just thought, ‘Oh, it’s going to hit the boat,’” Wyatt Yager told the station. “Then it started to tip over.” His brother, Colin Yager, captured the incident on his phone.
A boat crew from the Portsmouth Station reported that the whale appeared to be unharmed. The incident has been reported to the Marine Mammal Stranding Hotline at the Center for Coastal Studies and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The boat was also recovered.
Sara Morris from the Shoals Marine Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire suggested that the whale likely didn’t realize there was a boat in its path.
“If you watch the video closely, you can see the whale’s mouth is open,” she told the station. “It looks like it was lunging to feed and was actually trying to catch fish.”
