#graywhales — Public Fediverse posts

#California's #SanFranciscoBay is home to Eastern North Pacific #GrayWhales.

Residents & researchers now get to closely observe how they feed, breed & socially engage. They've also brought growing unease: why are so many of them #undernourished & #dying?

In 2025, a record number of 21 dead gray whales were found in San Francisco Bay. So far this year, 7 have died due to a combination of dwindling prey availability, climate change & human causes, researchers say.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9qdd8qvrplo

“When that happens, you often see #GrayWhales in a more desperate search for new areas to feed,” Calambokidis said. “That’s the most likely context for this whale.”

Researchers will attempt to examine the whale, possibly as soon as Monday.

#science #climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #EndangeredSpecies #ecosystems #MarineLife #whales #law #EnvironmentalLaw

The #NOAA Fisheries agency declared an unusual mortality event for eastern #GrayWhales — meaning those in the eastern #Pacific — from late 2018 to late 2023. It involved 690 gray whale strandings during that time, stretching from Alaska to Mexico.

NOAA Fisheries investigators concluded the preliminary cause was “localized #ecosystem changes in the #whales’ sub-Arctic & #Arctic #feeding areas that led to changes in food, malnutrition, decreased birth rates & increased mortality.”

#Climate #law

The larger issue that the population of #GrayWhales in the eastern part of the #PacificOcean has faced since 2019 is reduced #food availability in the northern Bering & Chukchi seas off Alaska’s coast, John Calambokidis, a research biologist with the Cascadia Research Collective, told AP.

“Gray whales are facing a major crisis & the heart of it does seem to be #feeding on their prey in the #Arctic,” he said.

#science #ClimateChange #EndangeredSpecies #MarineLife #whales #law #EnvironmentalLaw

The #whale was discovered Saturday near Raymond, Washington, in the Willapa River, which feeds into the #ocean at Willapa Bay. A number of #GrayWhales are currently in the bay on their 5,000-mile (8,000-kilometer) spring migration from birthing grounds in Baja California, Mexico, north to feeding grounds in Alaska.

#science #climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #EndangeredSpecies #ecosystems #MarineLife #whales #law #EnvironmentalLaw

Good news for gray #whales: 'Unusual mortality event' declared over https://phys.org/news/2024-03-good-news-gray-whales-unusual.html

"It was a worrisome few years for North Pacific #GrayWhales, with hundreds washing up dead on shorelines along the West Coast leading to an estimated 30% decline in their population. But the #GrayWhale population is now considered healthy enough #NOAA this week declared closed the Unusual Mortality Event it designated in 2019."

#OceanOptimism: Hopeful signs for declining population of #GrayWhales along US West Coast https://phys.org/news/2023-07-declining-population-gray-whales-west.html

"#scientists counted more mothers with calves in 2023 than any of the past five years. #Researchers also observed that the conditions of their bodies have improved and that fewer dead gray #whales have washed ashore in #Mexico and along the #WestCoast since 2019. All these signs lead researchers to believe the #GrayWhale mortality event may be slowing"