Cluster of Whale Deaths in California Raise Concerns: 'Quite Unusual'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Four dead whales were found around San Francisco Bay over two weeks, alarming some scientists and reigniting memories of previous high-mortality events. Experts say while the clustering of deaths is unusual, the overall number is not outside the normal range for this time of year.
Why It Matters
The rapid succession of strandings has stirred memories of April 2021, when four gray whales also died in the Bay Area within nine days. That year, scientists cited ship strikes and possibly starvation as causes.
Gray whales are contending with significant ecological stress. Between 2019 and 2023, the species experienced a 40 percent population decline, linked to food scarcity exacerbated by climate change.
"These whales basically left the Arctic with a half tank," Giancarlo Rulli, a spokesperson for the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, told Phys.org of the recently deceased whales.
"The food sources that they were normally accustomed to eating that were highly nutritious for this massive, 10,000–12,000-mile journey, had moved farther away due to climate change, and as a result, these whales were left to forage on food matter that was much less nutritious."
What to Know
The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito confirmed the deaths include three gray whales and one minke whale. The most recent was a juvenile minke that stranded itself repeatedly before being euthanized on April 8 in Emeryville, according to KQED. The whale suffered from severe sunburn and was struggling to breathe.
"Our teams have made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize this animal to relieve its suffering," Rulli said.
A stock photo of a breaching gray whale in Baja California Sur, Mexico.
A stock photo of a breaching gray whale in Baja California Sur, Mexico.
izanbar/Getty
Other recent fatalities include a gray whale that washed up at Black Sands Beach on March 30, an adult male found east of Angel Island on April 2, and a subadult male that beached near Fort Point Rock Beach on April 4. One of the gray whales had six fractured vertebrae, suggesting a vessel strike, while the causes of death for the others remain unknown.
Experts said that the timing of these deaths coincides with gray whale migration season. Each spring, the whales travel north from Mexico to Arctic feeding grounds, often pausing in the Bay Area.
Rulli noted that sightings of gray whales have surged around the bay since mid-March, and commercial ferry routes have been adjusted to avoid collisions. He stressed that while the minke and gray whale deaths may appear linked, "the factors involved are suspected to be quite different," according to KQED.
Kathi George, director of Cetacean Conservation Biology at the Marine Mammal Center, called the number of deaths "unusual," but told Phys.org that "it's coincidental that everything happened in a week and a half."
What People Are Saying
Rulli told Newsweek: "The goal is to investigate potentially why the animal died, but more holistically, try to give a window into understanding not only that individual life but extrapolate it more toward wider information that the individual can yield about the population as a whole. To have three dead gray whales wash ashore in a week's time is quite unusual."
Rulli added: "This is a species that is a sentinel for ocean health. They're incredibly resilient animals."
Moe Flannery, leader of the marine mammal necropsy team at the California Academy of Sciences, told Phys.org: "Although they seem high because they're concentrated into a short period of time, the numbers of dead and stranded are not any different than the recent previous years."
What Happens Next
Necropsies are underway to determine the precise causes of the deaths. Scientists are monitoring the situation to assess whether it could signal a new unusual mortality event.
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