Environmental groups warn climate change is causing a "catastrophic mortality event" for Pacific gray whales due to food depletion from melting sea ice. Other factors like ship strikes and pollution also contribute, leading to a near halving of the population since 2019. A petition to relist them under the Endangered Species Act is pending.
22 gray whales have died on Washington's coast and Puget Sound this year, with malnutrition cited as the primary cause. Experts link this to climate change impacting Arctic prey, alongside threats like fishing gear entanglement and ship strikes.
A new AI-powered system, WhaleSpotter, is launched in San Francisco Bay to track whales and alert mariners, aiming to reduce ship strikes amid a rise in whale deaths linked to climate change.
A record 21 dead gray whales were found in San Francisco Bay in 2025, with seven more dead so far this year. Scientists attribute the deaths to dwindling prey in the Arctic, climate change, and ship strikes. The population has crashed from 27,000 in 2016 to 12,500 in 2025, classified as an 'unusual mortality event' by NOAA. The bay has become a new habitat for gray whales since 2018, but nearly one-fifth of those entering the bay have died there.
