A Whale in New York Harbor

“It’s going out toward the ocean,” said Petty Officer David Schulein, a Coast Guard spokesman. “We just established a security safety zone.”

Petty Officer Annie Berlin, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard, said: “It is fairly close to the shipping zone. We want to make sure that not only the animal is not in danger, but that the vessels traveling in and out of New York Harbor are also safe.”

She said that the whale, at 11 a.m., was about one mile from the Verrazano Bridge.

Petty Officer Schulein said the whale was not too far from Brooklyn. “It’s right near Bay Ridge,” he added. “It’s right off of Belt Parkway.” By 1:15 p.m., it had moved near Coney Island, the Coast Guard reported.

The last known sighting of the whale was at 2:24 p.m. in Ambrose Channel south of the Verrazano Bridge by a Coast Guard crew and representatives from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation. The Coast Guard suspended its security zone around the whale at 4 p.m. as it continued to move south.