Boston’s beleaguered commuters have probably heard it all before when it comes to reasons for delays, but ferry riders this week encountered an unusual one: A whale has taken up residence in the harbor.
“Ferry service may experience minor delays,” the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority warned on Wednesday, “due to the presence of a juvenile humpback whale in Boston Harbor.”
The young whale is believed to be the same one that has been hanging around since late July in the harbor, where they are commonly seen but rarely take up residence.
On Tuesday evening, the whale was seen near the Lynn Ferry, prompting the M.B.T.A. to take caution with its ferries (which carry only a tiny fraction of Boston transit commuters).
As of Thursday afternoon, the whale’s presence has resulted in only one ferry delay (by less than five minutes), and at least one very interesting fishing trip.
Andrew Mahr, a retail real estate consultant and developer, was out fishing early Wednesday morning with his friend, Jake Gatof, who was captaining their boat, when they recorded a video of the whale breaching and then landing in the water with a magnificent splash.
The pair, who were joined onboard by Mr. Mahr’s cousin, were fishing for pogies, a common baitfish, when they saw the whale breach for the first time close to Castle Island, near Boston-Logan International airport.
“It was heading towards the harbor, and then kind of was playing in front of that area near Fort Independence, going back and forth,” he said. “I think the reasoning for it was there was a pretty massive school of pogies, which looked like fireworks in the water.”
Mr. Mahr said the men headed in that direction to catch the fish when they saw the whale and began trailing it with their eyes. At one point, he said, it “probably got within 25 yards of our boat.”
He put down his fishing rod, picked up his phone and started recording. Then the whale breached the water.
“It was pretty cool because you were seeing this at first light before sunrise,” he said, calling it “really beautiful.”
Mr. Gatof, a lawyer, said the two men fish as often as they can, using boats from the Freedom Boat Club. Pointing to a recent incident in New Hampshire where a breaching humpback whale capsized a vessel, Mr. Gatof said it was important to give the whale distance and respect its space.
“We let it drift off, and fortunately it did this amazing breach just sort of right by the boat,” he said, calling it a “pretty special” experience to see it so close and with the skyline in the background.
Both men expressed concern about the many vessels sharing the waters with the whale, but said the animal’s presence was a testament to the environmental success story that is the cleanup of the Boston Harbor.
“It really speaks to the health of just the general ecosystem and habitat within that region,” Mr. Mahr said. “The harbor is incredibly active, very clean.”
Linnea Mayfield, the naturalist manager at Boston Harbor City Cruise, which operates ferries for the M.B.T.A., said in an interview that the young whale is believed to be about 2 years old and it was first spotted in the vicinity between July 28 and July 30. It has been seen almost every day since then.
“What we suspect is that the animal followed food into the harbor,” Ms. Mayfield said, explaining that there’s been an abundance of small schooling fish in the water — the whale’s preferred diet.
And because the whale has continued to find food, she said, it just hasn’t left.
“We don’t know if the whale’s necessarily lost,” she said. “I don’t know that we have enough data to support that this animal can’t navigate its way out, or if it just is favoring this area because there’s food around.”
But for all the whimsy and joy that comes with having a humpback in the harbor, there’s also concern. The whale is in a busy part of the harbor where many vessels, including recreational and commercial ones, are “moving at high speeds through this area all day every day.”
“We are most concerned about this animal becoming distressed or stressed, disoriented or overcrowded,” Ms. Mayfield said.
Ms. Mayfield said that while it’s not rare for whales to visit the harbor, the animals usually clear out pretty quickly.
“This is kind of the first time, I think, that we’ve had prolonged sightings of an animal so close to the busiest parts and busiest routes for the M.B.T.A.,” she said, adding that “as far as I know, this is the first time that we’ve really had to notify passengers that there might be some significant delays.”
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