28-05-2025
Five dead gray whales were found in the Bay Area in one week, Marine Mammal Center confirms
Five whales found dead in the Bay Area in less than a week
Five whales found dead in the Bay Area in less than a week
Five whales found dead in the Bay Area in less than a week
Five gray whales have died in Bay Area waters between May 21 and May 26, 2025.
May 26, 2025: Suspected gray whale, Alcatraz; cause of death: undetermined (no necropsy performed)
May 26, 2025: Gray whale, Point Bonita; cause of death: undetermined (no necropsy performed)
May 22, 2025: Subadult female gray whale, Berkeley; cause of death: undetermined (no necropsy performed)
May 22, 2025: Gray whale, Fisherman's Bay, Southeast Farallon Island; cause of death: undetermined (no necropsy performed)
May 21, 2025: Yearling gray whale, Bolinas; cause of death: undetermined (partial necropsy conducted on May 23, inconclusive)
Source: California Academy of Sciences
California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences said this brings the total number of dead whales found in the Bay Area in 2025 to fourteen. At least three of them were killed by vessel strikes. They said have not responded to this many whale deaths since the unusual mortality event of 2019.
Scientists with the Marine Mammal Center and California Academy of Sciences have not determined what killed the whales the five recently found whales.
According to the Mammal Center's Cetacean Conservation Biology Team, there have been 33 individual gray whales spotted in the Bay Area in 2025. The center said that is up from the four gray whales that were sighted in 2024.
