A photographer has captured drone footage showing a jet-ski rider speeding directly over a gray whale and nearly slamming into a crowded whale-watching boat.
The accompanying footage was captured Sunday inside the L.A. Harbor breakwater by Daniel Genuth. It has no sound and is best viewed in full screen.
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The footage was subsequently shared by Eric Martin, head aquarist at the Roundhouse Aquarium in Manhattan Beach, who wrote on Facebook:
“As [Genuth] was filming the animals feeding, he got a very horrible surprise. The jet-ski operator not only almost hit the whale, but almost hit the [vessel] Christopher. Then a sailboat went right over the whale, while the whale was feeding. I have no clue what people are thinking anymore when it comes to logic and our environment.”
Various gray whales have been feeding sporadically on the sandy bottom inside the harbor since mid-February, Martin told FTW Outdoors. At least two feeding there Sunday.
The footage begins with a whale surfacing with sand flowing from both sides of its mouth. Gray whales forage on sandy bottoms for crustaceans and other small critters. The sandy patches in the footage were created by feeding whales.
The Christopher, from Harbor Breeze Cruises in Long Beach, is visible at the top of the screen. The jet ski blasts into the picture at 35 seconds, passing over a whale. The driver then speeds toward and veers within feet of the Christoper before continuing the joy ride.
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It’s unclear what happened next, or if the incident was reported to authorities. Harbor Breeze Cruises did not respond to inquiries by FTW Outdoors and did not mention the close call in its Sunday Facebook report.
It’s worth noting that the jet-ski driver might not have been aware of whales feeding inside the harbor, and might not have seen the mammals. But the driver obviously saw the 65-foot boat and high-speed passes such as this are dangerous, if not illegal.
Martin said the incident occurred beyond the low-speed, no-wake zone, but added: “I don’t think he was out of the stupid zone.”
Gray whales are currently migrating from nursing and mating regions of Baja California to summer feeding grounds in Arctic waters.
