Whale in the Baltic. The mammal was seen 70 km north of the Gulf of Gdansk
A whale in the Baltic Sea, 70 km north of the Gulf of Gdansk, was recorded by Gdynia resident Marcin Grabowski, the Gdynia City Hall reported Tuesday. It was emphasized that in front of the eyes of the ship’s crew, the animal, probably a humpback whale, emerged from the water several times, after which it swam away further.
– We went out on deck to do the day’s work. At one point I heard the sound of air being released, so my colleagues and I started looking around. Then we noticed a whale swimming not far from us,” Marcin Grabowski, the author of the video, told the city’s portal gdynia.pl
He added that he had never known a whale in the Baltic Sea before, so it was all the more a huge surprise for everyone.
The footage, according to the portal of the Gdynia office, was taken on Tuesday at noon, 70 km north of the Gulf of Gdansk, in the so-called B3 field. The video shows the animal emerging from the water several times.
The video was sent by the Gdynia municipality to the Gdynia Aquarium MIR-PIB. The institution’s representative Grazyna Niedoszytko confirmed that a whale had been recorded.
– It is hard for us to confirm 100 percent that it is a grindwal. Whales entering the Baltic Sea is a phenomenon we are encountering more and more often,” she added.
She pointed out that, on the one hand, it’s a result of the changing climate, and on the other, it’s a result of the fact that each of us now carries a camera phone with us and we have the ability to show such situations to the whole world in a second.
The footage was also presented to the head of the Professor Krzysztof Skóra Marine Station in Hel, Dr. Iwona Pawliczka vel Pawlik, who concluded that it was a humpback whale.
– Whales have been observed in the Baltic Sea for hundreds of years, such isolated trips sometimes happen here, she said in an interview with the city portal.
She explained that humpback whales are “such a ubiquitous species, they are very widespread in the northern and southern hemispheres. In fact, the only place where they are absent is the northernmost reaches of the Arctic.” – She stressed.
She also noted that an attempt will be made to determine the animal’s position in order to inform other Baltic countries and monitor the mammal to determine its migration route.
Dr. Pawliczka a.k.a. Pawlik reported that humpback whales in the Baltic Sea are observed every few or so years.
– The last time this happened was probably in 2016. At that time, a humpback whale ventured all the way to the waters of the Bay of Puck and was rescued there from fishing nets by the Marine Station team, she said in an interview with the city portal.
