Whale Washes Up on Jersey Shore Beach

TOMS RIVER — Marine specialists are examining a 30-foot dead whale that washed up on a Jersey Shore beach on Wednesday morning.

The whale washed onto the beach at the end of North Surf Road in Chadwick Beach, a section of Toms River. Marine Mammal Stranding Center is checking the whale to determine why it died.

Toms River Police spokesman Ralph Stocco told the Townsquare News Network that the whale was seen "bouncing" in and out of the surf as the high tide came in late on Wednesday morning.

DelawareOnLine.com reported that combined with a whale, likely a juvenile humpback, that washed up in Port Mahon, Delaware, earlier this week, the latest incident would trigger NOAA Fisheries to issue an "unusual mortality event" for whales.

The last such alert on the east coast was issued in 2015 when bottlenose dolphins stranded themselves in 2013 and 2014.

Three whales beached themselves in Delaware in 2016 while four washed ashore in Virginia in 2016 and 2017.