A 20-foot minke whale died Aug. 2 in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, after being struck by a boat, which nearly capsized and forced a passenger overboard, according to officials.<\/p>\n
The whale was first spotted at the bay inlet at 2:45 p.m. local time, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center<\/a> (MMSC), which received a call from New Jersey State Police.<\/p>\n Rescue crews responded<\/a> with the U.S. Coast Guard seeking a way to guide the whale out of the bay, MMSC wrote on social media.<\/p>\n But before they could, the whale was struck by a vessel at 3:40 p.m. and was reported dead by officials hours later.<\/p>\n Video shows moment boat strikes whale in New Jersey<\/p>\n The Marine Mammal Stranding Center conducted a necropsy \u2013 an animal autopsy \u2013 and found that the whale was in thin body condition. According to the center’s Instagram post<\/a>, the whale had external superficial cuts, with bruising present in the blubber and muscle in the areas of trauma on the dorsal side.<\/p>\n “Various biological samples were collected during the necropsy examination and will be sent to a pathologist for further analysis,” according to the statement. The results of the examination will be shared on the MMSC\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Are whale deaths on the rise?<\/p>\n USA TODAY previously reported on multiple whale deaths on both the Atlantic coast<\/a> and in the San Francisco Bay<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two dozen whales have died in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area this year, according to the California Academy of Sciences<\/a>. Eight of those deaths were caused by a probable or suspected vessel strike. Of the whale deaths, 21\u00a0were gray whales<\/a>, two were\u00a0unidentified\u00a0baleen whales,\u00a0and\u00a0one\u00a0was a minke whale<\/a>.<\/p>\n The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/a>\u00a0reported that since January 2016, there has been an increase in\u00a0humpback whale\u00a0mortalities along the Atlantic coast, from Maine through Florida. Of the whales examined through necropsies, about 40%\u00a0had evidence of\u00a0human interaction<\/a>, either by ship strike or entanglement.<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Video shows boat hitting minke whale, nearly capsizing<\/a><\/p>\n