WASHINGTON — Gray whale strandings, which occur during the spring months when whales migrate past the Washington coast, are happening at a higher rate than this time in past years.
The strandings began on April 2 when a female was found on the Long Beach Peninsula. Since then, six more dead gray whales have been documented in Washington state.
“The number of strandings this year is higher than we typically see at this point in the stranding season, sparking concerns about the recovery of the gray whale population after the Unusual Mortality Event (UME) that occurred from 2019-2023,” the Cascadia Research Collective said.
The UME involved 690 gray whale strandings from December 2018 to November 2023, including 347 in the United States.
Necropsy findings from a subset of dead gray whales found malnutrition as a common cause of death and did not identify underlying disease
According to Cascadia Research Collective, this year, stranded whales have primarily been adults with evidence of malnutrition: loss of oil in the blubber layer, lack of internal fat stores, and no food in the stomach or intestines. An exception was a healthy whale that was likely the victim of a transient killer whale attack.
Two of the deaths were human-caused.
“We expect more strandings in the coming weeks and will be working to examine as many as possible,” Cascadia Research Collective said.
To report a large whale stranding in Washington, call Cascadia’s stranding hotline at 360-791-9555. Any stranded marine mammal in WA, OR, or CA can be reported to the West Coast Stranding Network Hotline at 1-866-767-6114.
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