Whale migration in full effect on Jersey Shore

Up and down the coast boaters have been having some exhilarating brushes with whales on their fall migration. Experts are warning to give these big mammals their space.

Just this Sunday Kassidy Kawa was fishing for striped bass a couple hundred feet from the Bay Head shoreline when a humpback whale shot out of the water next to the boat like a rocket.

"It came within 10 feet, it was shocking. It jumped out of the water and slammed back down. Our boat was shaking, the splash was so big and powerful after it landed that it felt like our boat was going to tip over," said Kawa, 21 of Brick.

Kawa snapped a photo of the whale with her camera phone just as it emerged.

The small fishing party consisting of her mom, dad and two sisters were fishing on pods of menhaden, an oily bait fish, that stretched for miles from Manasquan Inlet south to Island Beach State Park.

For about the last two weeks a major fall migration of fish and marine mammals has been in full effect on the coast. It's been a hodgepodge of striped bass and bluefish, whales and bottlenose dolphins and now even seals feasting on small, hand-size menhaden.

Bob Schoelkopf, founder and director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine said the humpback whales are the primary whale species that have been spotted by numerous boaters.

"They come closest to the shore. They use the shoreline to pin the bait up so they can eat it," he said.

The humpbacks are fattening up for the winter, which they will spend in Silver Bank Sanctuary, a shallow water area off the coast of the Dominican Republic. There they will mate, birth and nurse their calves until it is time to follow the food back north in April.

Reaching a maximum weight of 80,000 pounds, humpbacks can eat upwards to 3,000 pounds a fish per day. At that size they can also sink small vessels that get too close.

"When they're lunge feeding the last thing in their mind is a boat or a kayaker. Safety wise, it best to stay as far away as possible," Schoelkopf said.

It is also a legal question. Humpbacks are an endangered species that are safeguarded by the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammals Protection Act. Boats must stay at least 200 feet from them.

Further off the coast and less likely to be spotted from the shoreline, right whales and minke whales are also on the move to warmer waters off Georgia and Florida.

While right whales are the most endangered whale species in the world, the minke is considered to have the most stable population of all whales.

One whale species that could remain in the area throughout the winter are the mackerel-loving fin whales, Schoelkopf said. They are the second largest, next to blue whales, growing up to 80 feet. They are also an endangered species.

While most of the whales, with the exception of the fin whales, and the bottlenose dolphins are headed out of New Jersey waters, one fur bearing species is coming south to hang out for the winter: harbor seals.

"We had our first one just the other day on Seaside Heights. He had come up on the beach to rest," said Schoelkopf.

Schoelkopf said people shouldn't try to feed the seals and should call the Center if they spot one.

"They should keep their distance. They are coming up on land to rest after feeding and are not in any trouble," he said.

Dan Radel: 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com