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More grey whales have washed up dead off the west coast of Vancouver Island, bringing the total to seven found dead this year.
Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) marine mammal co-ordinator Paul Cottrell said a hiker and a pilot reported two dead grey whales over the weekend.
“It’s sad to see that we have another two and we’re going to need to check out and figure out what happened,” Cottrell said.
Four grey whales washed up dead off Vancouver Island in just 10 days back in April, starting the concerning trend.
“They’re basically a bag of bones, really sad to see that kind of body condition,” Cottrell said.
Researchers believe a dramatic decline in available prey in their Arctic feeding grounds is to blame for the deaths, saying the whales are starving to death as they migrate back north to their feeding grounds.
“We’re not surprised, given the pulse of grey whales that we had, a couple of weeks ago,” Cottrell said.
A total of 36 grey whales have been found dead in the Pacific Ocean this year, according to tallies from officials.
John Calambokidis, a research biologist at Cascadia Research Collective, said dead whales are being found at a rate that has surprised him.
“I am only getting more alarmed,” he said.
Cascadia Research Collective confirmed a total of 17 grey whales have been found dead this year off Washington state. The common finding among the examined whales has been malnutrition.
“Never have they come at this pace this early, so we’re really worried about where this is headed,” Calambokidis said.
Previously, Calambokidis said, the worst year for deaths was in 2019 when 216 grey whales were found dead during an “unusual mortality event.”
Whales are a frequent visitor in the waters off of Vancouver. But one grey whale feeding in English Bay has people very excited. As the CBC’s Alanna Kelly reports, one swimmer had an encounter that was extra special.
“We are way ahead of the pace we have seen in any previous year when the population was much larger,” Calambokidis said.
The Marine Mammal Center and the California Academy of Sciences confirmed 10 grey whale deaths in the San Francisco Bay Area so far this year, and NOAA Fisheries confirmed two dead grey whales off the Oregon coast.
Cottrell said DFO is working with partners in California, Oregon and Washington state.
“We’re all concerned about it and we’re hoping that it doesn’t continue to decline in terms of increasing mortality rates and decreasing population,” Cottrell said.
He expects more whales to be found dead as they try to migrate north till June.
“We’ll continue to sample these animals where we can and hopefully get more data and determine just how bad it is,” Cottrell said.
The grey whale population has been dwindling, estimated at just under 13,000.
Anyone who sees a marine mammal in distress can report it to DFO.
