Humpbacks of the Hudson

By Scott Enman

It’s been almost two hours since our boat left dry land, and there’s still no sign of the elusive beasts. Aboard the American Princess, dozens of mostly middle-aged passengers, clad in khakis and hiking boots, scan the horizon with binoculars dangling from their necks.

It’s the first-ever whale-watching voyage for environmental nonprofit Riverkeeper, and there’s a palpable excitement in the air. Guests have paid close to $130, some taking off work, for a chance to see these majestic mammals, but so far, there’s been little more than cargo ships and seagulls.

Aboard the American Princess (Photo by Celia Ackerman)

Since leaving Sheepshead Bay, a subtle buzz of impatience has overtaken the boat; silent observation has given way to incessant chatter. Two women decide to pass the time at the bar. They go below deck and emerge minutes later, a Corona and vodka cranberry in hand.

“I normally don’t have time, but this seemed like a great opportunity,” Allen Frei, a Windsor Terrace resident and first-time whale watcher, tells me. “The idea that we can do this right out of New York City is amazing.”

Leading today’s cruise is Celia Ackerman, a naturalist and research associate at the nonprofit Gotham Whale.

She’s stationed at the bow, shouting out instructions to the captain. “There’s a little bit of white water near the channel marker over there,” she says. “Keep an eye on it.”

“There’s another splash,” she screams a few minutes later. “Nevermind. False alarm — it’s probably just a shark.”

And then, out of nowhere: “There she blows!”

A pair of humpback whales emerge, swimming in tandem next to each other. One reaches its flipper high in the air, as if saying hello to the boat. The other releases from its blowhole. Photographers scurry to try and get a picture of them in front of the Lower Manhattan skyline. A collective sigh of relief is unleashed.

Hello! (Photo by Celia Ackerman)

Soon after, several minke whales join the party, as well as a third humpback. They all surface just feet away, seemingly unafraid of the boat.

With six whales around us, the captain shouts out clock positions on a loudspeaker, alerting passengers of the animals’ locations. Heads swivel back and forth.

Humps of hope
Humpback whales, which were at one point endangered and rare in New York City — due to pollution and decades of commercial whaling — are becoming more and more common as the Hudson River Estuary has become healthier and cleaner.

That’s in part due to the work of Riverkeeper, which since 1966 has protected and restored the Hudson River and its tributaries, including the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek in Brooklyn.

“The Hudson River’s really become this international symbol of hope that you can take an ecosystem that has really been run down as dramatically as ours was and revive it and bring it back,” says Tracy Brown, president of Riverkeeper.

Humpbacks, which are individually indexed, are not only returning to New York City waters, but they’re also staying longer, according to a study released last year and co-authored by Danielle Brown, head researcher at Gotham Whale. In fact, one of the whales we saw on this trip has come back every season since 2019.

Whales began to show up in larger numbers around 2011, according to Ackerman, and have increased in recent years by more than 500 percent.

“Even though to us 10 years might be considered a long time, in terms of science, it’s still a relatively new occurrence,” Ackerman says. “We’re not in a situation like Cape Cod where you might look out and count 50 spouts on the horizon, but we do have enough whales here now that we can go out and expect to see them on a consistent basis.”

From 2011 to 2018, Danielle Brown’s team documented 101 different whales. In 2022, that rose to 257. This year, that number’s at 331 so far.

The increase is due to a number of factors, including warmer and cleaner water, and several pieces of legislation aimed at protecting whales and their habitat. The Clean Water Act, which became law in 1972, was instrumental in giving Riverkeeper the ability to hold polluters legally accountable.

Healthier water has also led to an increase in Atlantic menhaden, a key food source for whales and a large reason why they’re sticking around and returning to the area. Riverkeeper supported a bill in 2019 to protect the fish by banning the use of enormous nets to harvest them in New York waters.

While the recovery of whales is a success story, there are still some threats, primarily global warming, entanglements in fishing gear and a handful of countries that still practice whaling: Japan, Norway and Iceland.

And humpbacks — which can reach up to 60 feet and weigh up to 40 tons — in such a busy port, can also collide with boats. Ackerman speculates that a recent spate of whales washing up along New Jersey’s coast may be a result of that.

Despite the population increase, many people, Ackerman says, are still surprised to know that whales reside in New York City waters. But on the heels of the Climate March, and with 2022 and 2023 marking the 50th anniversaries of the Endangered Species and Marine Animal Protection acts, it’s the perfect time, according to Ackerman, to raise awareness on humpbacks, which were at one point on the brink of extinction.

At around 6 p.m., the boat starts to head back for Brooklyn. Along the way, we encounter several pods of bottlenose dolphins. Ackerman counts 50 swimming alongside the boat.

As the sun sets, a rainbow emerges in the sky. It’s one of the final days of summer, and the group is jubilant. The weather cooperated, and the wildlife did too. There’s an underlying feeling of gratitude.

“This used to be a dumping ground not too long ago,” says Megan Boone, a member of Riverkeeper’s board of directors. “Today’s trip shows nature can return, and hope is not lost.”

The American Princess will host whale watching tours every week through Nov. 5. Its full schedule can be seen here.