Whales by the dozen are wintering in the unseasonably warm waters off this resort city, attracting a flotilla of recreational boats packed with sightseers hoping to glimpse the big mammals gorging on tons of bait fish within sight of the oceanfront's high-rise hotels.
While elated by the unexpected visit, scientists are also concerned that the offseason attraction could create potentially deadly conflicts between the whales and boat propellers.
Ships from the world's largest naval base in Norfolk and cargo traffic up the Chesapeake Bay to port facilities in Virginia and Baltimore also pose a potential threat, they say. The waters off Virginia are much shallower than those where whales are commonly found.
"We feel they don't have the depth refuge and the whales can't dive under the ships," said Susan G. Barco, a senior scientist at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center Foundation.
The cause for the concern was apparent this past weekend when whale-watching boats departed Rudee's Inlet, a fishing and boating center at the southern end of the resort's boardwalk, for the short trip offshore.
Scores of fishing boats were bobbing in the water as a touring boat with passengers on two decks sailed into prime whaling grounds. The distinctive spouts soon signaled the whales' presence as they broke the surface, creating an excited scramble as people flocked to the rails for a look.
"It's surprising how tolerant they are of us," said Donna Dorroh, a Richmond attorney who was on the tour with her husband, Mark. "We were thrilled and cheering every time we saw one. They seemed less impressed with us."
As a guide directed passengers to the latest sighting, she also cautioned nearby recreational boaters to give the whales a wide berth and to reel in any fishing lines and hooks.
At least a couple of whales have been snagged on parachute gear — an array of hooks usually intended to catch a striper. Monofilament line is the real concern because it could sever a fin, said Jackie Bort, another scientist at the Virginia Aquarium.
Water temperatures of 40-plus degrees have kept menhaden in these waters rather than seas farther south, which has drawn the fin whales, humpbacks and smaller minke whales. During a more seasonably cold winter, the humpbacks would have continued their migration from the Canadian Maritimes, the Gulf of Maine and New England to warmer waters in the West Indies to mate and calve.
More than 40 individual whales have been identified.
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