A man has been given a warning letter for harassing a sperm whale that died while languishing off Florida's Pompano Beach two months ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.

In the written warning issued earlier this month, NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement told Anthony Armento that he violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which prohibits people from harassing, capturing, hunting or killing whales and other marine mammals.

The alleged harassment occurred the morning of Dec. 16 in the waters off Pompano Beach, when a man was seen getting on top of a sperm whale by a witness, who photographed the bizarre encounter from afar.

The whale, pronounced dead hours later that day, was thought by marine scientists to have been ailing at sea long before the whale was harassed. Still, responding to reports of the man harassing the whale, NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement investigated and said it identified Armento as the violator.

Video on NBCMiami.com: NOAA slaps warning on man for harassing whale

Armento couldn't be reached for comment Thursday, despite a visit to a listed address. The letter stated that he was eligible to appeal the finding within 30 days of receiving the letter, NOAA said.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), enacted in October 1972, was established to protect and conserve marine mammals, according to Erin Fougeres, a marine mammal scientist with NOAA.

"The MMPA is the primary mechanism that we have to manage and conserve marine animals in the United States," Fougeres said. "It does make it illegal to harass, hunt, capture, kill or attempt to do any of those things to a marine mammal."

Also on NBCMiami.com: NOAA to look into report of swimmer getting on whale that died

Violations can result in a civil penalty up to $11,000, as well as criminal penalties up to $100,000 and imprisonment of up to a year or both. Violators include those who approach the marine mammals too closely to watch, feed or swim with them.

"We recognize that these are important animals in the marine environment, and also animals that the public enjoys seeing in the wild," Fougeres said. "And the act is really primarily to protect them so that we have them around for future generations."

Also on NBCMiami.com: Dead sperm whale towed out to sea from Deerfield Beach

Despite people's fascination with marine mammals, they should not near them for everyone’s safety, Fougeres said.

"You want to make sure that as you're observing them, you're observing them from a safe distance and in a manner that would not change their natural behavior," Fougeres said.

In Armento's case, the purpose of NOAA's issuing him a written warning was to document the violation, NOAA said. It also could be used to justify a more severe penalty if any future violations involving him occur, NOAA said.

"When proceeding with investigations and prosecutions, NOAA considers such things as the violator's intention or state of mind, the effect of a violation on the resource, the need for specific and general deterrence, etc.," NOAA said in a statement. "In this case, after considering the facts of the case, NOAA determined that a written warning was an appropriate outcome."

Photos provided to NBCMiami.com by a witness showed two swimmers nearing the whale the day of the incident, though only one person was seen in a picture on top of the whale. NOAA on Thursday did not say whether the second swimmer was cited.

The day of the incident, witness Margie Casey told NBCMiami.com that she saw two swimmers twice go up to the whale. She said she watched them from her fifth-floor balcony and snapped photos of the one swimmer getting on the whale.

Casey said the whale had been drifting north along the shore, just south of a stretch of beach near the Northeast 14th Street Causeway. Casey said she considered the whale to be alive at the time, because it was flapping its tail. Perhaps the whale was on its "last leg," Casey said in a Dec. 16 interview. "So sad."

A specialist went into the water later that day and determined the sperm whale had died, officials said. The next day, the dead whale washed up around Deerfield Beach's fishing pier. It then was towed more than five miles out to sea to dispose of its carcass, officials said.

The Pompano Beach whale case is among the latest in a series of cases in Florida involving the harassment of animals.

Sunday, a Fort Pierce, Fla., man was arrested on the charge he violated Florida law by illegally playing with and handling a manatee calf, then posting Facebook pictures of the encounter, authorities said. And in November last year, a St. Petersburg, Fla., woman was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of violating state law by riding a manatee, officials said.

NOAA encourages anyone who sees possible violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act to report it to NOAA's enforcement hotline at 1-800-853-1964. Anyone who sees a stranded, injured or entangled marine mammal may report it to the Southeast Regional Marine Mammal hotline at 1-877-942-5343.

NEW YORK -- An emaciated 60-foot finback whale that washed up on a coastal community devastated by Superstorm Sandy has died, marine officials said Thursday.

The whale was found beached Wednesday in Breezy Point, Queens, where 126 homes burned down and more than 2,000 were damaged during the Oct. 29 storm. It was carried out at high tide but washed ashore another time on Thursday, and marine officials said they found it dead, according to media reports.

“Biologists have confirmed that the whale has died,” Mendy Garron, a marine mammal rescue specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told Reuters. “Plans are currently being developed for necropsy and disposal of the carcass."

PhotoBlog: Finback whale beached at Breezy Point

Finback whales are an endangered species. They are second in size only to the blue whale, and can reach up to 70 feet in length and weigh up to 70 tons. The whales migrate to equatorial waters in the fall and during winter, they mostly fast, surviving on their fat reserves. Winter is also when they mate, and calves are born one year later, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

It is one of the fastest large whales and can stay underwater for up to 50 minutes on one breath.

Tim Dufficy, 26, a member of the Point Breeze Volunteer Fire Department, said the firehouse was contacted by security in the private cooperative about the animal. He and a few other volunteers took some new equipment, such as a portable pump and a special hose, that they'd gotten in the aftermath of the storm to keep water flowing on the whale during low tide since it was mostly out of the water.

"Everyone was hoping," he told NBC News. "But ... we knew the prospects were grim."

The whale did respond to the firefighters efforts, opening its eyes and moving its tails and side fins, he said. The fire crew eventually left the animal in the care of marine biologists. When Dufficy went to check back on the whale on Thursday, it had drifted seven blocks down the beach.

Rob DiGiovanni, executive director of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation told NBCNewYork.com on Wednesday that the whale was “severely emaciated” and that the outcome did not look good.

Calls placed Thursday seeking comment to the foundation and NOAA were not immediately returned.

The whale was found on the bay side of the community, which is tucked in by the Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay. With most homes rendered uninhabitable by the storm, many residents have had to move away and make daily trips to continue repairs.

Sharks, dolphins and a large sea turtle have also turned up on the beaches of Breezy Point, which was founded more than a century ago by Irish immigrants. It's not clear how many survived, said Dufficy, though he knew the sea turtle was alive when marine officials took it away.

A whale also beached itself on the community's Atlantic coast around the summer of 1960, said Point Breeze Fire Chief Marty Ingram.

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A sperm whale that was drifting off an eastern Florida shore on Sunday has died, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The agency now plans to look into a report from a resident of Pompano Beach, north of Fort Lauderdale, who said she saw the whale alive earlier in the day and saw one of two swimmers get on top of the whale, NOAA said. 

"This whale was likely ill or injured and that is why it came in so close to shore," said Blair Mase, NOAA's southeast regional stranding coordinator. "This type of harassment could have caused more harm and added stress to an already stressed whale and ultimately caused its demise."

It is a federal offense to harass a marine mammal, Mase said.

"People need to be aware that they shouldn't do that," she said.

Sperm whales, the largest of the toothed whales, also are an endangered species, she said.

Read more news on NBCMiami.com

Marine scientist Stefan Harzen said it's possible a boat struck the whale or something simply made the whale sick.

"There's really very little you can do for a whale if it gets seriously ill or injured," he said.

On its 'last leg'
The witness, Margie Casey, 49, told NBC 6 that she saw two swimmers twice go up to the whale Sunday morning. She said she watched them from her fifth-floor balcony and snapped photos of one swimmer getting on the whale.

Casey said the whale at the time was drifting north along the shore, just south of a stretch of beach near the Northeast 14th Street Causeway.

Casey said she considered the whale to be alive, because it was flapping its tail at the time. Perhaps the whale was on its "last leg," she said. "So sad."

About 11:45 a.m., bystanders reported the whale was about 40 feet from the shore, according to sheriff's spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright.

A marine mammal rescue team, the Broward Sheriff's Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission responded.

US sued over Navy sonar tests in whale waters

Before it was announced the whale had died, beachgoers said they hoped the whale would survive.

"I think it's totally amazing, man," said Brad Schwab. "It looks like they're trying to keep him out in the open sea."

Beachgoer Dennis Cooper added, "I guess everybody's concerned about the health of the whale and everybody's trying to save it."

Christina Coniglio, who was also on the beach, said she suspected that pollution contributed to the whale's illness.

"The environment is so dirty," she said. "When the whales go and eat all those plastics and bottles and things we throw in the sea, they get sick and this is what happens."

The whale had been coming close to shore while rip currents kept pulling it back out, Coleman-Wright said. When officials arrived, a specialist went into the water and determined the species that died was a sperm whale, Mase said.

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Nick Ut / AP

People look at a dead young male fin whale that washed ashore between the Paradise Cove and Point Dume areas of Malibu, Calif., last week.

Fed up with the stench of a decaying whale carcass that washed up on a Malibu beach -- and with the inaction of government officials -- a local homeowners association took matters into its own hands and hired a tugboat that pulled the body out to sea late Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The 40-foot fin whale washed up between Paradise Cove and Point Dume, near the homes of celebrities including Barbra Streisand and Bob Dylan.

The whale appeared to have been hit by a ship and had a gash on its back and a damaged spine, according to the results of a necropsy by the California Wildlife Center. It was already dead when it washed ashore.

The whale carcass was left decaying for several days while government officials argued over whose responsibility it was to remove it.

Shark bait? Rotting whale on Malibu beach raises fear

"We have not yet been informed of any removal plans," Malibu spokeswoman Olivia Damavandi told NBC News Friday morning.

Burying the carcass on the beach, carving it up and setting the pieces on fire and towing it out to sea where among the removal methods considered, the Times reported. 

On Thursday, authorities said towing the carcass to sea was no longer feasible because it was too decomposed.

But Fire Inspector Brian Riley told the newspaper a homeowners association hired a private tugboat to remove the remains, which were reportedly carried off about 20 miles offshore.

Fin whales are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. They can grow to up to 85 feet, weigh up to 80 tons and live for up to 90 years.

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While officials on Friday mulled what to do with a whale carcass rotting on a beach in ritzy Malibu, Calif., some locals were worried it might attract some unwanted visitors: sharks.

Five days after the carcass landed on the beach, officials from the city, county and state were still unsure about what to do and who would do it.

"We have not yet been informed of any removal plans," Malibu spokeswoman Olivia Damavandi told NBC News Friday morning.

Readers on Malibu Patch exchanged comments criticizing the delay, and how to dispose of the juvenile fin whale, which weighed an estimated 40,000 pounds before seabirds got to it.

"Burying the whale where it lays will cause an oil slick to emanate from the burial spot, attracting sharks for many years," posted one reader, referring to the fact that the whale's blubber will gradually decay into oil.

The comments included an earlier incident in San Onofre, Calif., where surfers attributed an increase in shark sightings to the burial of a whale at a nearby beach.

Damavandi said she didn't know if sharks could become a problem, but added that "as somebody who surfs in Malibu quite often, my common sense tells me it is probably not the best idea to enter the ocean anywhere near the whale carcass."

Nick Ut / AP

People on Thursday look at the dead male fin whale in Malibu, Calif.

Cindy Reyes, director of the Malibu-based California Wildlife Center, echoed that "common sense" gut feeling.

Officials on Thursday said they feared the carcass was too decomposed to be able to tow it out to sea, and Reyes told NBC News that the center had arranged for a professional marine tow service to go to the site Friday for an evaluation.

"If it's too decomposed," she said, "it would have to stay where it is."

The whale washed up between Paradise Cove and Point Dume, near the homes of celebrities like Barbra Streisand and Bob Dylan.

It appeared to have been hit by a ship and had a gash to its back and a damaged spine, according to the results of a necropsy by the California Wildlife Center. 

Fin whales are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. They can grow to up to 85 feet, weigh up to 80 tons and live for up to 90 years.

The West Coast population of fin whales was estimated at around 2,500 in 2003, down from nearly 3,300 in 1996, the federal government says.

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A 40,000-pound whale likely killed by a ship was decomposing near the Malibu beach homes of Hollywood celebrities on Thursday, as officials tried to figure out what to do with the carcass -- and the stench.

"It's not physically capable of being moved because of its condition," Kevin Marble of the L.A. County Lifeguards, told Malibu Patch. "It's so embedded in sand that they won't be able to get it out. The body will be pulled apart."

The juvenile fin whale's carcass was found Monday morning and vets with the California Wildlife Center later determined it had died from injuries consistent with a ship strike.

Burying the 40-foot-long carcass could be an option, Marble said, but it would have to be moved since it now sits in a rocky area.

"It has to be exhumed and moved and buried," he added.

California State Parks has also been involved in the talks but did not have an immediate plan.

Nick Ut / AP

The remains of a fin whale that washed ashore last Monday are seen Thursday on a beach in Malibu. Calif.

"We don’t have a boat. We don’t have the resources to drag it off the beach," parks spokesman Craig Sap told Malibu Patch.

NBCLosAngeles.com reported that agencies were trying to figure out who was responsible for dealing with the carcass. A City of Malibu spokeswoman said removal plans had not been finalized, it added.

The L.A. County Department of Beaches and Harbors said it was not responsible. 

"It's on a private beach" controlled by homeowners down to the high tide line and the state is responsible for the tidelands, spokeswoman Carol Baker told the Associated Press.

The whale washed up between Paradise Cove and Point Dume, near the homes of Barbra Streisand and Bob Dylan.

Residents who got up close to the whale included Mari Stanley, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

"It's a beautiful beast," she said. "It just looked like someone had picked it up and dropped it on the beach."

Fin whales are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. They can grow to up to 85 feet, weigh up to 80 tons and live for up to 90 years.

The West Coast population of fin whales was estimated at around 2,500 in 2003, down from nearly 3,300 in 1996, the federal government says.

Key threats to the species are ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, less prey due to overfishing, habitat degradation and disturbance from low-frequency noises.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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North Coast Marine Mammal Center

Crews were able to untangle a gray whale that had gotten caught in crab pots in Humboldt Bay in California.

A second gray whale entangled in fishing gear along the California coast has been freed.

The latest whale was spotted Tuesday afternoon in Humboldt Bay — south of Eureka, Calif. — with crab pots hanging from its tail fluke.

The U.S. Coast Guard, along with members from Humboldt State University Marine Mammal Stranding Network and the North Coast Marine Mammal Center, spent hours chasing down the animal so they could untangle it.

They were successful in their joint effort Wednesday morning. The rescuers said the young small whale was actually tangled with a buoy and a fishing line as well as the crab pots.

The rescuers said they think the whale only suffered minor injuries. The teams are staying out in the water to make sure it safely gets back into the wild. 

Last month, a 40-ton gray whale was found tangled in fishing line attached to three buoys off the coast of Orange County.

A rescue attempt in Southern California was unsuccessful, until the whale was spotted by a fisherman more than a week later up near Bodega Bay. 

A crab fisherman and his crew used 12-foot bamboo poles with hooks to remove the lines. 

They had no idea of the the whale's plight and only learned that they had rescued an infamous creature after returning to dock and someone asked him about an extra buoy on the boat.

This story originally appeared on NBCBayArea.com. 

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