I WAS RIGHT, IT WAS A FIN WHALE.
NEVER TO OLD TO LEARN

i JUST WONDER HOW MUCH OF THE TAX PAYERS MONEY THIS WILL NOW COST DUE TO A DELAY 3 DAYS ALREADY TO REMOVE THIS WHALE.,P> If it were dragged out to sea a week ago when seen floating this would have never happened.

By Keith Ruscitti • TOMS RIVER BUREAU • September 2, 2008

Beachgoers surprised by large piece of washed-up whale blubber

Marine expert believes it was remains of beached fin whale

TOMS RIVER — Sunbathers in Ocean Beach received a surprise Monday when partial remains of a whale washed up on shore shortly after lunchtime.

Lifeguards at the Unit 1 section of the beach said some swimmers noted about 1 p.m. something floating near the shore.

Ryan Walker, 16, a first-year lifeguard, swam out to the floating object and quickly realized it was not typical debris drifting along the coast.

"It looked like Styrofoam, and that's what I thought it was at first," said Walker, a resident of Union who lives in the Ocean Beach section of the township during summer months.

Instead, it was a 10-to-12-foot piece of whale blubber.

Bob Schoelkopf, founder and director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, said the blubber was most likely some of the remains of a 55-foot fin whale that washed up Saturday morning on the beach of Island Beach State Park.

The whale's carcass had been drifting south from the Manasquan Inlet since last week, according to technicians at the center. By the time the whale beached at Island Beach State Park, it had deteriorated significantly.

"A few of the lifeguards pulled it up on the beach, and then we didn't know what to do with it,"

Walker said. "That wasn't a part of my training course."

After contacting Toms River police, the beach patrol was told to bury the blubber.

"About five of us just started to dig a hole to bury it," said Pat Ambrose, an 18-year-old Toms River resident and one of the lifeguards at the scene. "The hole was waist-high, and we put the blubber in there."

Beach patrol members said it took about 15 minutes to bury the whale blubber. By 2:30 p.m., it was back to the normal Labor Day grind for the lifeguards.

"I've seen a dead turtle wash up before, but never part of a whale," Walker said.

Keith Ruscitti: (732) 557-5748 or kruscitti@app.com

Printed from the APP August 31, 2008

BERKELEY — Representatives of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center were cutting up for removal the remains of a 55-foot-long fin whale, estimated to weigh up to 35 tons, that washed up at Island Beach State Park Saturday morning.

Robert Schoelkopf, director of the center in Brigantine, said why the whale died has not been determined. He said the animal had been drifting in the ocean since some time last week.

Jay Pagel, senior stranding technician, estimated the whale to weigh around 35 tons. He said the weight depends on its sex, and that an adult fin whale averages around 70 tons.


The corpse, which washed up about six miles from the main park gate, at area 17, is being brought to an area landfill, said Bill Deerr, a stranding center technician.


Tyler Branham, park naturalist, said the lower jaw bones are being preserved at the park. He said they will be used at the nature center, as a part of the park interpretive program.


Plans are set to bring a bulldozer to the site Monday, to help move the rest of the whale, said Chris Irick, assistant division fire warden of Division of Parks and Forestry.

-- Sarah Webster