Six gray whales have been found dead in the San Francisco Bay area in the past week, bringing the total number of whale deaths in the region this year to 15.
The last gray whale was found Wednesday, the California Academy of Sciences and the Marine Mammal Center said in a joint statement. The carcass was found near Alamere Falls in Point Reyes National Seashore, they said.
Two whales were found Monday, one near Alcatraz and one off Point Bonita. A whale was spotted near Berkeley on Saturday, another near Fishermans Bay on May 22 and one near Bolinas on May 21.
Of the six whales found near Bolinas, only one – a young calf – underwent a partial necropsy, the groups said, with results unclear.
Fourteen gray whales and one minke whale have been found dead in the San Francisco Bay area this year. Suspected or probable ship strikes appear to have killed three gray whales, the groups said.
“The Academy and the Center’s partners have not seen this many gray whale deaths since the peak of unusual mortality in 2019,” the statement said.
Between December 17, 2018, and November 9, 2023, hundreds of gray whales were stranded on the coast of western North America as a result of UMEs. A total of 690 whales were killed in UMEs in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The centers reported that they responded to 14 whale strandings in 2019 and 15 in 2021.
The increase in deaths comes amid what the groups describe as an “unusually high number” of whale sightings this year in the San Francisco Bay area.
According to them, 33 gray whales have been confirmed in the area through photo-ID this year, which is more than the six gray whales spotted in the bay in the entire previous year.
“The cause or possible causes of the sharp increase in sightings this year are still under investigation by researchers,” the press release said.
“The gray whales are expected to remain in the bay for another one to two weeks before continuing their annual migration north to their Arctic feeding grounds.”
Sourse: www.upi.com
