In the past week, six dead gray whales have been discovered in the San Francisco Bay area, marking a troubling trend amid an unusually high number of whale sightings. The bodies were found between May 21 and a recent wash-up at Point Reyes National Seashore, according to the California Academy of Sciences. Notably, on Monday alone, two whales were found—one on Alcatraz and another at Point Bonita. Currently, necropsy results are pending, with a partial necropsy on a yearling whale yielding inconclusive results.
This year’s spike in sightings—33 gray whales compared to just six in 2024—has raised questions among researchers. Giancarlo Rulli from the Marine Mammal Center expressed concerns about the reasons behind both the deaths and the increased visibility of live whales. So far in 2023, a total of 14 gray whales and one minke whale have been recorded dead in the area, with three attributed to boat strikes.
The reasons behind this year’s unusual pattern of sightings and deaths are still under investigation. It was noted that gray whales typically are spotted in the bay for one to two more weeks before embarking on their annual migration to Arctic feeding grounds. The National Marine Fisheries Service highlights how gray whales, once prevalent in many Northern Hemisphere waters, mainly reside in the North Pacific now. They undertake a migration of about 10,000 miles, facing threats from vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglements, contributing to their vulnerability.
Overall, researchers are actively looking into the underlying factors for this year’s atypical behavior observed in gray whales.
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