When a boat is within 2 miles of a whale, there should be a person designated to be on the lookout and communicate with other ships by radio when approaching a whale and departing from it, NOAA said. “It was about the size of the boat”, he recounted to the Connecticut Post. Then in August, a boater in Milford said he recorded a humpback whale breaching the water. They thought it was an orca.

Beluga whales were spotted near Jamestown, RI back in May, according to Mystic Aquarium.

In response to the sightings, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reminded boaters that marine mammals are protected by the Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. The last confirmed sightings before this year were a long-finned pilot whale off Stonington in 2009 and a minke off Old Lyme in 2005, said Janelle Schuh, stranding coordinator at the aquarium.

Lately, the whales have been the talk of Long Island Sound, including warnings to boaters from state and federal environmental officials to watch for whales and try to stay at least 100 feet away from them.

A joint study done by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) in 2007 indicated that rising water temperatures could cause whale species to “shift their distributions to remain within optimal habitat”.

Humpback whales have been spotted in the western Sound in recent weeks, including sitings in waters off Stamford, Greenwich and Darien, said David Simpson, director of marine fisheries for DEEP.