Humpback Whale Upsets Boat Near Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Video has emerged on social media showing an Atlantic humpback whale, deliberately upending a 27 foot small boat in the ocean near Portsmouth NH on Tuesday, 7.23.24. Another boater, a young man in a small boat, watches, then turns the wheel to run.

Video may be seen at: https://x.com/dom_lucre/status/1815817507879399892

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Humpback whale upsets boat.

The whale is described as "Pissed off;" the boater who posted it suggests that small boats avoid the area. It's uncertain if any humans (or whales) were injured in the incident. Experts say the whale was breaching, and the small boat was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“There is a pissed off whale patrolling the waters of Portsmouth NH today. Head on swivel if you’re out there,” former NHL player Ryan Whitney wrote in an X post accompanying the viral video.

Fortunately, one of several other fishing boats in the area came to their rescue, the US Coast Guard said.

Found in oceans and seas around the world, humpback whales typically migrate up to 16,000 km (9,900 mi) each year. They feed in polar waters and migrate to tropical or subtropical waters to breed and give birth. Their diet consists mostly of krill and small fish, and they use bubbles to catch prey. They are promiscuous breeders, with both sexes having multiple partners. Orcas are the main natural predators of humpback whales.

The whale is described as "pissed off;" local boaters are advised to avoid the area.

Like other large whales, the humpback was a target for the whaling industry. Humans once hunted the species to the brink of extinction; its population fell to around 5,000 by the 1960s. Numbers have partially recovered to some 135,000 animals worldwide, while entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, and noise pollution continue to affect the species.

Humpback Whale Upsets Boat Near Pourtsmouth, New Hampshire

The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus Megaptera. Adults range in length from 14–17 m (46–56 ft) and weigh up to 40 metric tons (44 short tons). The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with long pectoral fins and tubercles on its head. It is known for breaching and other distinctive surface behaviors, making it popular with whale watchers. Males produce a complex song typically lasting 4 to 33 minutes.