The whales appear emaciated but whether from decline of food supply or overpopulation is unclear
Every spring, the grey whales migrate from Mexico to the North Pacific. (Craig Hayslip/Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute)
An unusually high number of grey whales are washing up dead on West Coast shorelines on their annual migration north and B.C. is the next stop, warns a U.S.-based marine biologist.
More than 20 grey whales were stranded ashore in California this spring, and, further north along the coast in Oregon, several more have washed up recently.
Eleven whales were recently stranded in Washington state. Only one survived.
“We’re already beyond what we would typically consider high numbers and this is still early in our stranding season,” said Jessie Huggins, stranding co-ordinator for the Cascadia Research Collective.
in one of the longest migrations of any mammal, grey whales migrate from their wintering areas near Mexico to their summer feeding grounds in the North Pacific every year.
“They’re heading towards Canada,” Huggins told CBC’s On The Island. The whales are expected to pass by Vancouver Island.
Young grey whale pictured washed up on Ucluelet beach on Vancouver Island in 2016. (Les Doiron)
Food shortage
From necropsies on the animals, Huggins said it appears that food shortage is an underlying cause of the deaths.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of emaciated animals,” she said.
Grey whales feed on sediment along the ocean floor, which brings them closer to shore than other types of whales. Their proximity to land means they are more likely to wash ashore and for their deaths to be noted.
“Many other whales, when they die further off-shore, we never see them,” Huggins said.
“Especially skinny ones because they tend to sink first.”
Thanks to wildlife protection measures like the Marine Mammal Protection Act, grey whales became a “success story” and their numbers increased over the last decades.
The research hasn’t concluded whether the recent deaths are due to a decline in food sources or an overpopulation of grey whales or some combination of both.
“It’s difficult for us to tell at the moment, but we do know that, for the last year or two, there have been a number of very skinny whales,” Huggins said.
“They didn’t get enough food last summer and, along their normal migration patterns, are just not able to make it all the way to Alaska.”
An unusually high number of grey whales are washing up dead on West Coast shorelines on their annual migration north and B.C. is the next stop, warns a U.S.-based marine biologist. 6:53
Exposing the Big Game 
Reblogged this on The Extinction Chronicles.
An overpopulation of whales? Seriously? I hope the article isn’t trying to imply that is the reason for a decline in their food source.
I’ll bet it is because their stomachs are full of plastic.
I’ll bet their food supply is going away from climate clange and related ocean acidification.
..
..heart..
..bleeds..
This is due to over fishing, I’m sure.
That too…
the oceans are full of machines that are making the whales hemorrhage and avoid areas. trum phas filled the oceans with crap machines that make whales, dolphins, all hemorrhage.
There’s so many threats to sealife, but one thing all of the threats have in common is that they are all because of human activities – overfishing, acidification, warming of waters due to climate change, poisoning by fertilizer and sewage runoff and ship waste, careless disposal of garbage and plastics, noise pollution, drilling for oil and offshore wind, cosmetics and sunblock chemicals (who needs microbeads to wash your face?), and on and on it goes….
The noise in cities and public places is so bad even I can’t stand it
How anyone can narrow it down to ‘overpopulation of whales causing a strain of the food supply’ is beyond me. Soon, under a hundred whales will be considered ‘overpopulated’ because humans will commandeer the remaining fish, plankton, and even krill for their own selfish needs.
That’s what’s happening with the salmon.