Several whales and other marine animals were seen off the Vineyard shores this week, a sign that summer is approaching.

Norton Point was reopened Wednesday morning after a dead fin whale was towed out to sea.

David Tilton and Lynn Silva were out making their typical derby rounds Friday afternoon when they came across a whale in 20 to 25 feet of water just off the Brickyard on the Chilmark north shore.

A dead juvenile finback whale was found floating in the ocean between the Vineyard and Noman’s Land last Friday.

David Damroth, a Chilmark resident, said he spotted the whale from a hill above Squibnocket Beach. He later took his boat out on the water and got a closer look at the animal, which was largely intact, he said. The only marks he saw were from scavenging seagulls.

As the federal government presses ahead with plans to develop wind farms on a 1,300-square-mile plot of ocean south of the Vineyard, on Monday night the Island had its turn to have a say about it.

Representatives from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, accompanied by members of the Gov. Deval Patrick administration and Cape and Islands Rep. Timothy Madden, came to the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven Monday to solicit public comment as part of a call for information announced on Feb. 6.

Several shoals of fin-back and hump-back whales were seen a day or two since from five to fifteen miles south-east of Noman’s Land, Vineyard Sound. They were in sight nearly all day on Thursday, and were in shoals of about fifteen.