Gray whales are washing up on West Coast beaches. Most of them starved to death. The large number of dead whales led the NOAA to declare an “unusual mortality event,” a designation that triggers a wide-ranging investigation to determine—if possible—the cause. A rapidly warming Arctic is a likely candidate for decreasing the number of whales the Pacific environment can support. This year’s malnourished stranded whales, says Weller, “are possibly related to poor feeding or feeding conditions during the 2018 summer/fall season.” Gray whales migrate south in November or December, so by May and June of the next year they have reached what he calls “peak nutritional stress.”
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