Why Gray Whales Are Dying: Climate, Starvation, and Human Threats

0:00 Great whales are dying along the Pacific coast of North America and people are asking why. There are a lot of questions being asked. We've got some of the answers. We're going to talk about that on today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. Let's start the show. Hey everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Llewelyn, and this is the podcast where you find out what's happening with the ocean, how you can speak up for the ocean, and what you can do to live for a better ocean by taking action. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about gray whales and dying gray whales. Unfortunately, between 2019 and 2023, the unusual mortality event, the UME was declared for Eastern North Pacific gray whales.

0:42 During this period, approximately 690 whales were found stranded from Alaska to Mexico. Investigations by NOAA revealed that many of these whales suffered from malnutrition, likely due to changes in the Arctic feeding grounds leading to decreased prey activity. In 2025, the trend is continuing with several gray whale deaths occurring in San Francisco Bay area. Necrophes indicate that some whales were emaciated, means they are starving, while others showed signs of ship strikes. We've seen this before on the Atlantic side of North America. I'll talk about that in a second. The increased presence of whales in the bay, possibly searching for food, raising concerns about vessel collisions.

1:26 Now you're probably thinking that these whales are in dire need, just like northern right whales on the east coast of North America. But despite these challenges that they're facing with being emaciated and having ship strikes, there are still signs of hope. NOAA reports 33% increase in gray whale numbers, estimating around 19,260 individuals in 2024. Up from 14,530 from the previous year. That's a crazy increase. However, calf production remains low, suggesting that ongoing reproductive challenges. We're still seeing challenges. This is one of those cautionary tales where we're seeing a perfectly fine population with increasing numbers.

2:08 But we're starting to see a bit of a dip in the calf numbers happening every year. Now we compared that to North Atlantic right whales and we're starting to know where they're in dire need. They're critically endangered under 100 reproductive females and we're starting to see a little bit of calf activity increase, but not much. And we're seeing more years where you were seeing catastrophic dying numbers and the number just continues to decrease and decrease. I think overall population is under 400. I think 390 was the last number I saw, but don't quote me on that. It's still going down. It's not trending upwards and that's still a concern. The gray whales on the other hand, the North Pacific great whales are actually doing pretty well from a population standpoint, but we're seeing that decrease.

2:50 And with climate change rearing its ugly head, this is a big problem and climate change plays a significant role in this crisis. Melting sea ice disrupts the ecosystem affecting the availability of amphipods, a primary food source for gray whales. Additionally, increased human activity such as shipping and fishing post threats through vessel strikes and entanglements. Here's the lowdown with climate change increasing, especially in the Arctic with melting ice. We're starting to see more ships go through the Northwest Passage across Canada, over Alaska, into the Pacific. So you're actually having a connection from the Atlantic to the Pacific, which increases shipping, allows goods to be shipped over that area that has people have been wanting that for centuries.

3:33 I mean, back in the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s, people were trying to pass through the Northwest Passage, dying and having catastrophic effects and results. Now it's opening and it's open and ships can actually go through there. So we're going to see more of those ships go through there where whales are not used to seeing these ships come through. Whales are not used to fishing activities in these areas. If that increases, there's going to be a likelihood that the increase of ship strikes and whale entanglement in fishing gear will actually increase. This is not a good thing for these whales, which are used to having a peaceful time in the sea ice or around the sea ice and in colder waters in the Arctic where they feed during the summer months.

4:13 I've seen them feed. They're amazing to watch in the waters. Gray whales are obviously watched down in Mexico and it's fun to watch. People go up. They come up to the boats. People go up. They try and touch them. Never touch a whale, by the way, but it's a very interactive ecotourism thing and they go north in the summer to feed on the amphipods and with lack of sea ice, the amphipods who actually sit at the bottom of the ice underneath like the sea surface ice will actually sit there. If that ice is melted, there's not going to be any amphipods. They're not protected by anything. They're not going to be able to survive and there's going to be less amphipods. So less food means less whales or emaciated whales like we're seeing here. So we could be seeing a pattern that's been growing and that we just haven't been able to detect because we haven't seen the amount of deaths since our I guess before.

5:01 What was it? I think I said 2020 2019. So before covid we started to have a population that was fine that increased death. Six hundred ninety individuals over four years is huge and they were seeing more in 2025 a bit of a break in 2024 but seeing more in 2025 eventually is going to affect the population. The overall population. We're not going to see these increases like we've seen now. We're going to actually see a stall of that increase or at least of a shortening of that increase and then it's going to start to decrease or stay the same. That's not good. We want to see an increase. We want to see this happening more and more. So there are ways that we can do conservation and conservation efforts are underway to mitigate these threats. So the Coast Guard and ferry operators in the San Francisco Bay Area are adjusting routes issuing alerts to protect whales.

5:46 So they'll probably decrease ship speed in certain areas. They'll probably have more alerts and more spotters more observers marine mammal observers that are around hopefully and of course public reporting of whale sightings and strandings is encouraged to aid in the conservation efforts. Now they're in the San Francisco Bay Area because they're probably looking for food. There's not as much food out there. They were seeing a decrease in amphipods probably even their favorite foods along their migration routes are probably decreasing or changing may not decrease but they may change. And so the whales are adapting to a changing ecosystem, which is what scientists have been saying for decades of what's going to happen when we have climate change their food source is going to change. Therefore, everything is going to change.

6:27 We need to protect these gray whales. They're a vital part of the ecosystem in ways that sometimes we don't even realize and they're a majestic species and iconic species. And we need to ensure that they are continuing growing because back in the day when we hunted whales as humans and then we use it for oil. We use for fuel. We pretty much decimated most of the whale population. The IWC, the International Whale Commission comes in. They put protections. They put moratoriums on whale hunting and then all of a sudden the humpback whales, the gray whales, they start to come back and with less human activity. The whales do well with more human activities. The whales don't do as well. And that's what we're starting to see here. We're starting to see more human activity in areas where we never saw as much human activity before, like in the Arctic.

7:12 Plus we're seeing lack of sea ice and the melting of sea ice, meaning less food. We're starting to see emaciated animals. That's not good for reproductive activity. That's not good for health overall of the species. So the plight of the gray whale is a stark reminder of the interconnectedness of these ecosystems and the impact of human activities on the marine life. It's just something that we see each and every day. And unfortunately, it's now impacting the growth of this population. So continued research, of course, continued conservation efforts and public awareness are crucial to ensuring the survival of these majestic creatures. We need to protect these species. Now with the decimation of staff in and along NOAA is not going to help. We need to increase monitoring. We need to increase research activities. And to do that, you could support your favorite nonprofit organizations that are out to protect the gray whales. They're out to protect whales and do more research, understand their plight. Look for graduate students who are doing research on looking at where the spots of where they can feed more, where these gray whales are going and how ship patterns and shipping lanes might have to change in the future just by the changing.

8:18 And so we're going to go back to North Atlantic. Remember on the east coast back in 2017 we saw a change in the pattern of the North Atlantic right whale. They started to go more north. Where it was warmer where there was warmer than it used to be in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. But when they went into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, we had ships that are traveling at 20 knots. Well, North Atlantic right whales don't get out of the way very easily. They sit right below the surface, making it hard to detect for ships to slow down in time. And then they end up getting hit by ships. They also get entangled by, you know, a lot of crab pots or lobster pots, the fishing lines on those pots. And so when they go into a new area and that new area is not used to having North Atlantic right whales, you start to see a lot more deaths happen because they're coming into new territory because of climate change because it's warmer.

9:00 That's where their food is going. So humans have to adapt. They have to adapt faster than the whales because that's the whales. That's their ocean. That's where they go. They don't. It's really hard to direct them anywhere different. And so we start to see that happen. We don't want to see that happen long term for the gray whale. So we have to adapt even faster. Luckily, it seems people like the Coast Guard and ferry operators are working together in the San Francisco Bay area. That's an important aspect that people want to protect these whales. People are in a good area where environmental protection is a problem. And I think that's really important for what we want for these gray whales. So love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you think this is the start of a dire future for these gray whales? Or do you think we can say them? Love to hear your thoughts. Hit me up with a comment down below if you're watching this on YouTube.

9:45 And of course, if you're listening to this on Apple podcast, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app, just let me know how you feel. You can hit me up on Instagram at how to protect the ocean. That's at how to protect the ocean. Or you can go to speak up for blue.com forward slash contact, fill out the contact form. Let me know your thoughts on this. And I'll see you next time.