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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/10/pacific-gray-whales-population-climate-change>
"Climate change is driving a gray whale “catastrophic mortality event” in the
Pacific Ocean as melting sea ice depletes food sources and the animals starve,
environmental groups warn.
Meanwhile, a range of other issues, like ship strikes, oil spills, microplastic
pollution, algal blooms and Russian harvesting are also probably contributing
to the die-off that has nearly halved the whales’ estimated population. It fell
from 20,000 in 2019 to fewer than 13,000 this year, and the deaths appear to be
accelerating.
Environmental groups have petitioned the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (Noaa) to relist the gray whale under the
Endangered Species
Act (ESA), which would alleviate some problems, but its approval is a long
shot as the Trump administration moves to gut wildlife protections.
The whales are in “very, very serious trouble”, said Rick Steiner, an Alaska
marine ecologist and chair of Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility’s (Peer’s) board of directors.
“The stranding numbers last year and this year are enormous compared to their
annual average,” Steiner said. “Stranding” is the term for whales that wash up
onshore.
The gray whales, which travel from Baja California to Alaska to feed each year,
came close to extinction in the 1970s, but rebounded following robust
conservation efforts. They were delisted from the ESA in 1994, which Steiner
called a “colossal mistake”.
The estimates are most dire for 2025 and 2026 – somewhere from 2,500 to 8,000
whales are estimated to have died in this timeframe, which meets the criteria
for a “catastrophic mortality event”."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
