16 grey whales have washed up on Washington’s shores, a record in the 50 years the Cascadia Research Collective has tracked the mortality of the giant ocean mammals.
The whales migrate from their breeding waters off Mexico in the spring, up the coast to where they feed in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea.
The fact that 16 have washed up on the shores of the Pacific Northwest shows the whales are starving and searching for food before they make it to the regions where they typically replenish, according to John Calambokidis, a research biologist and founder of the Cascadia Research Collective.
“I’ve become just increasingly alarmed with what we’ve been seeing this year,” Calambokidis said, “A record pace is really scary.”
Part of the scare-- a massive die off between 2019-2023 killed 13,000 of the 27,000 whales NOAA had counted.
In 2024, there were signs the population was rebounding, but this year’s stranding streak is casting doubt on that hope. Calambokidis says it’s a stark realization when more whales are dying from a population half the size of a decade ago.
Cascadia Research has tracked the deaths and of all of the remains that have been able to be examined; all showed signs of starvation.
Grey Whales that traditionally feed in Puget Sound near Whidbey Island, a different pod than the ones washing up this spring; Calambokidis has observed are doing better than their ocean-trekking counterparts.
“That’s what really points the finger squarely at the portion of the population that feeds in Arctic waters. And that the area where there’s been so much change with climate change," he said.
Sea ice melting in the Arctic waters provides less algae for crustaceans to eat. Fewer crustaceans mean less food for whales to store in their winter journey.
In what researchers think may be signs of a desperate search for food, three of the ocean-traversing whales have washed up in Puget Sound and several whales have also died in the San Francisco Bay.
“What we don’t know is how successful those efforts would be. And certainly, these mortalities show that it’s not going to be able to sustain the population anywhere near its normal carrying capacity.” Calambokidis said.
Calambokidis says whales most definitely face issues of boat strikes and getting entangled in nets, and people can support groups that address that.
However, the main threat is climate change, warming the coldest regions of the Earth, like the Arctic Ocean. He hopes, if there’s a silver lining, these deaths inspire people to push for change.
“Can this be any kind of motivation for those of us in this country who have seen a tremendous step backwards that the U.S has taken in any efforts to combat climate change?” Calambkidis said.
“A few inches of sea level rise, is that a big deal? Well, I think here is one sign we’re seeing of how it can be a huge deal for some of these animals that are affected by these broader ecosystem changes brought on by climate change.”