These are Washington, Oregon, and California. Gray whales, one of the largest animals on Earth weighing up to 41 tons and reaching lengths of 49 feet, are known for their visible annual 10,000-mile migration between feeding grounds in the Arctic and breeding grounds in Baja. The Pacific Coast or West Coast of the United States consists of the states along the North Pacific Ocean. That’s the lowest number since such counts began in 1994, NOAA fisheries said. The most recent count of baby whales, ending in May, estimated calf production this year at about 217 newborns, down from 383 calves tallied last year. The overall population slump among West Coast gray whales coincides with diminished reproduction, researchers found. Many of the roughly 600 whales found washed up dead on beaches from 2019 to this year appeared malnourished, though some had died from other causes, such as boat collisions or attacks from killer whales, NOAA said. The season runs from May 15th to November 30th with 8 hurricanes in an average year. “Given the continuing decline in numbers since 2016, we need to be closely monitoring the population to understand what may be driving this trend,” David Weller, director of the center’s marine mammal and turtle division, said while announcing the findings.Ī spike in gray whale strandings detected along the West Coast from Mexico through Alaska two years ago prompted NOAA Fisheries to declare an “unusual mortality event” for the population in 2019, triggering closer scrutiny of the phenomenon. But what about the West Coast of the United States, which is adjacent to the Pacific Ocean The eastern Pacific has an active tropical season as well. Researchers at NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla said the latest decline, though not fully explained, likely entails several factors including environmental changes that have shifted the whales’ food sources of tiny crustaceans and other invertebrates they prey on in the Arctic. The 38% drop from the population’s 2016 high of 27,000 whales to 16,650 this year resembles previous fluctuations, but warrants further attention, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Administration (NOAA) said. In addition, the population produced its fewest calves on record this year, researchers noted in a report released Friday. The number of gray whales migrating along the Pacific Coast of North America has declined by nearly 40% from a 2016 peak, according to new U.S. A dead gray whale rests on Limantour Beach at Point Reyes National Seashore in Point Reyes Station, north of San Francisco, May 23, 2019.
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