Mar 30, 2026, 7:37 amMar 30, 2026, 7:45 a.m
The humpback whale stranded on the Baltic Sea coast was unable to free itself – and it is still alive. The animal is still lying in the bay off Wismar, a spokesman for the water police in Wismar told the German Press Agency. «Yes, it’s still there. The situation is the same as yesterday.” The animal did not move from the spot. At the same time there was less water. That makes the situation a little more difficult.
The whale off Germany is not doing well.Image: keystone
The spokesman could not say what would happen next. The experts would have to decide that once they get an idea of the situation. To do this, water police officers and marine biologists from Greenpeace went to the whale in a rubber dinghy shortly after 7 a.m., as a spokesman for the Environment Ministry of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania told the dpa. “To see what the condition of the whale is.”
What happens next – whether the whale should continue to rest or be nudged to leave of its own accord – depends on the situation. It is currently quite windy and raining in the Wismar Bay.
The animal was observed throughout the night and was also breathing. At night the police were responsible for security. “A shift system has been put in place to ensure that the whale is not unobserved.” On Sunday, the German Maritime Museum reported that the whale was very weak and its breathing rate was reduced.
Video: watson/nina bürge
Whale has been traveling along the Baltic Sea coast since the beginning of March
According to the information, the whale had repeatedly appeared on the Baltic Sea coast since the beginning of March, first in the harbor of Wismar, later in the Bay of Lübeck and on the coast near Steinbeck (Northwest Mecklenburg district). The animal was caught in a net. Emergency services and marine conservationists from the Sea Shepherd organization had freed it of some of the material.
Last Monday morning, the marine mammal was discovered on a sandbank off Timmendorfer Strand near Lübeck. An extensive rescue operation began, and on Friday night the humpback whale freed itself through a channel dug out by an excavator. On Saturday, however, the whale was stranded again – in Wismar Bay.
The drama surrounding the humpback whale has continued ever since. On Sunday night, when the water level rose, the marine mammal was able to swim free from a sandbank in front of the small island of Walfisch in the Wismar Bay. But a little later he was stuck again – very close, in a place about two meters deep. He lay there apparently motionless on Sunday, only occasionally throwing a fountain of water into the air.
Numerous onlookers at the weekend – restricted area in the water
According to him, the authorities have drawn up a restricted area within a radius of 500 meters around the whale, into which no ship or boat is allowed to enter. Numerous onlookers stood on the pier at the weekend to catch a glimpse of the animal.
The director of the German Maritime Museum in Stralsund, Burkard Baschek, said that the whale was lying in a water depth that roughly corresponds to that on Sunday night when the animal freed itself. He therefore described the latest situation not as a stranding, but rather as a “body touchdown” of the whale.
The whale’s nutritional status is good, as Stephanie Gross from the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research at the Hannover University of Veterinary Medicine said at the weekend. Humpback whales can go for weeks without food. (dab/sda/dpa)