Like coastal waters around the world, New York’s marine habitat has been exploited for centuries. Until recently, its fisheries were exhausted and the resident marine life populations were greatly depleted. However, in recent years, the state of the waters in and around the New York Harbor and Hudson River has been improved, thanks to the hard work of various citizens, activists, campaigners and environmental groups. As a result, the biological food chain has bounced back, and now supports a diverse ecosystem teeming with marine life. The waters of New York now provide a feeding ground for seals, dolphins and whales.

New York has the busiest port on the eastern seaboard. This puts whales in a high traffic area and subject to potential ship strike and entanglements. Concern for boat traffic is critical, but the reason for the whale’s return is a good news story. The waters have been cleaned up, the environment provides a food source (plankton) for the fish, and the fish, predominantly menhaden, are the prey species for the whales. A recent cap on the commercial fishing for menhaden has been reduced in recent years and has allowed the species to rebound. We need to keep that in place.

I founded Gotham Whale in 2011, after retiring from a career in the public aquarium world both in Boston and New York. I had had numerous experiences of responding to stranded whales as a curator at both the New England Aquarium and the New York Aquarium, and I always had a fascination with the species and their natural history. Being at the forefront of such a major change – making NYC a new feeding ground for humpback whales – is exciting and challenging. Our boat captain likes to say: “Rockaway, the new Cape Cod”. Who would have thought of NYC as a whale watching hot spot? My hope is that we can go from a merry band of volunteers, to become a self-sustaining organisation that can be a positive influence for the whales and marine mammals of NYC.