In brief
The juvenile gray whale, initially seen swimming 20 miles up the Willapa River in Washington state, was discovered dead, raising concerns about the declining population of eastern gray whales. Experts suggest food shortages in their natural habitat may have driven the whale to seek food in uncharted areas. As the species faces an unusual mortality event, researchers underscore the serious challenges impacting their survival.
A juvenile gray whale that amazed Washington state residents after it swam 20 miles up a small river was found dead, and an official with a marine mammal research group suspects hunger may have driven the whale to new hunting grounds as the species’ population declines. The whale was discovered Saturday near Raymond, Washington, in the Willapa River, which feeds into the ocean at Willapa Bay. A number of gray whales are currently in the bay on their 5,000-mile (8,000-kilometer) spring migration from birthing grounds in Baja California, Mexico, north to feeding grounds in Alaska. The larger issue that the population of gray whales in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean has faced since 2019 is reduced food availability in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas off Alaska’s coast. Experts are concerned about the population decline and stress that gray whales are facing a major crisis due to the scarcity of their prey in the Arctic. NOAA Fisheries declared an unusual mortality event, linking it to the whales' inability to find sufficient food. Researchers will aim to examine the whale to investigate the cause further, while emphasizing the migration north is a particularly challenging time as these whales go without food for long stretches, intensifying their search for new feeding areas.
