Whale Dies After Colliding with Boat, Pushing Passenger into New Jersey Bay: ‘Oh My God … Man Overboard!’

A whale died this weekend after a boat collision in New Jersey’s Barnegat Bay, an incident that also sent a passenger overboard.

The New Jersey State Police Marine Unit contacted the Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) around 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2, to report the presence of a whale in the bay. About an hour later, a nearby boater reported that a vessel had struck the whale, causing the boat to nearly capsize and tossing a passenger into the water, according to the MMSC.

Video footage shared by NJ.com captured the dramatic moment. A person wearing a blue shirt and sun hat is seen falling off the rear of the boat after the impact, as onlookers on a nearby vessel shout warnings to “shut the motor off.”

“Oh my God, they’re going over,” a witness says in the video as the boat tips. “Oooh, man overboard!”

The passenger quickly resurfaced, while the whale, appearing agitated, swam away with its tail repeatedly slapping the water. Kim Mancini, who recorded the footage, told NJ.com the whale first swam under her boat before it was struck by another. TowBoatUS Barnegat Light later shared more clips of the incident on social media.

The MMSC, working with the U.S. Coast Guard, State Marine Police, and Sea Tow, responded to the scene. First responders confirmed the whale — identified as a Minke whale approximately 20 feet long — had died.

“We know the whale has died. We’re not really sure why, but we’re going to find that out,” MMSC director Shelia Dean told NJ.com.

On Facebook, the center noted it had coordinated with officials at a nearby state park to tow the whale ashore for a necropsy — an animal autopsy — scheduled for Monday morning. The timing aligns with the availability of heavy equipment and the tide cycle. Sea Tow will assist in transporting the carcass.

Boaters are being urged to keep a minimum distance of 150 feet from the whale’s body for safety.

Referring to the video, Dean said the whale was in extremely shallow water and was “surrounded” by boats. “I don’t know how they even got where the whale was because it was so shallow,” she explained, adding that the vessel may have cut the whale and should not have been that close.

“If the whale approaches you, you shut your engines off and just lay dead in the water until the whale swims away,” Dean emphasized. “You should never approach a whale.”