Record strandings on the Pacific coast
Gray whale carcasses are washing up along the U.S. West Coast at an alarming rate. Marine biologists counted 146 strandings in the first half of 2026. The average annual number of gray whale strandings from 2006 to 2023 was 43. In 2025, the count rose to 179.
Researchers say the true death toll is much higher, because most whales that die sink to the ocean floor and are never counted. They estimate that somewhere between 2,500 and 8,000 gray whales died in 2025 and 2026, a loss that meets the definition of a “catastrophic mortality event.”
Starvation driven by climate change
Most of the examined carcasses show signs of malnutrition. The whales are starving because their food supply is shrinking. Gray whales feed on tiny crustaceans called amphipods that live in the mud of Arctic feeding grounds. Melting sea ice is changing those habitats and depleting the food the whales depend on during their long migration between the Arctic and Mexico.
Ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements are also killing whales. Last year, 24 whale deaths were attributed to ship strikes and 33 whales were found entangled in fishing gear. Most of this year's strandings have been reported in Washington state and the San Francisco Bay area.
Pressure to relist under the Endangered Species Act
Environmental groups are urging the government to relist the eastern gray whale under the Endangered Species Act. The species was removed from the endangered list in 1994 after recovering from commercial whaling.
Rick Steiner, a marine ecologist who chairs the board of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said the stranding numbers are enormous compared with the annual average. Conservationists warn that 2026 could be one of the deadliest years on record for the species. They are pressing federal agencies to act before the population decline becomes harder to reverse.