Whales are making headlines across the world right now, but not for reasons anyone hoped. Recent headlines tell a troubling story; these gentle giants are turning up dead along the West Coast of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. And it’s not just Pacific gray whales. The U.S. East Coast has seen its own rise of large whale strandings, adding to growing public concern that shows no signs of slowing.
The outcry is understandable. Ask anyone lucky enough to see a whale in the wild and they will tell you – the moment it happens the whole boat changes. A collective gasp. Pure, unfiltered joy. Children frozen in awe. Grown adults giggling like kids. Even crew members who’ve seen a whale a thousand times can’t help themselves with excitement. These aren’t just wildlife sightings; they are lifelong memories.
But there is another side to this story.
With every stranding, those memories start to collide with a harsher reality. Awe is replaced with silence and sadness as a whale struggles and and may take its final breaths. The sounds of happiness give way to concern, as rescuers attempt to save this massive creature and scientists meticulously collect samples, working to understand why this keeps happening. That’s why understanding the science isn’t just important – it’s essential.
Why Are So Many Whales Dying
This is precisely where experts are today – working to determine why so many whales have recently washed up on coastlines across the globe. While the official cause of death in many cases is still unknown, there is one certainty: many of these whales aren’t dying from a mysterious or natural causes. They are dying due to human activity.
Food Shortages
In recent years, gray whale population numbers have fallen from a peak of approximately 27,000 to now a staggering 13,000, more than a 50% decline. This spring season alone, an alarming number of strandings have been reported up and down the west coasts of the Mexico, U.S., and Canada along their annual migration path.
Eastern North Pacific Gray whales undertake one of the longest annual mammal migrations on the planet, traveling more than 10,000 miles round-trip each year. During this journey, it’s normal for gray whales to eat less than they usually do. But the sheer number of whales dying (many in visibly poor condition), is cause for alarm.
To be clear, gray whales know how to find food. The problem is that food is simply not abundant enough anymore.
Warming waters, a result of human-driven climate change melts Arctic ice. Less Arctic ice means less algae growing beneath it, which disrupts the entire food chain, including the crustaceans in the seabed that feed gray whales. This is a classic example of a deteriorating food chain.
Getting Hit by Boats
As food becomes harder to find, many whales are being forced into different areas. Case in point: San Francisco Bay. This is one of the busiest areas for boats on the West Coast and has seen numerous gray whale deaths this spring season alone. As prey in normal feeding grounds disappears, experts believe the area is seeing more whales as these creatures search for food.
Despite trying to use the Bay as a potential feeding refuge, many whales do not survive either from starvation or being hit by a boat. Between 2018 and 2025, 70 gray whales were found dead in the surrounding region. Of those, 30 were confirmed to have been struck by vessels. Nearly one in five gray whales that go into the Bay don’t survive.
Ship strikes are a leading cause of death for large whales. Simply put, whales often cannot swim fast enough to avoid being hit by an oncoming vessel. In just the past few months, there have been at least three documented collisions, but these are only the cases we know about. Many more go unreported when the whale sinks or drifts out to sea.
The issue isn’t limited to the West Coast. In New York, an endangered Sei whale was found with distinctive injuries consistent with a ship strike. Several weeks later, a humpback washed up in New Jersey. This whale was otherwise healthy except for blunt force trauma to its body and head, consistent with a vessel strike.
Tangled Up in Fishing Gear
The current headlines do not fully capture the number of whales that get injured or die each year after being tangled up in fishing gear. Last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a report showing a steep increase in large whale entanglements in U.S. waters.
In 2024, 95 large whales were confirmed entangled compared to 64 in 2023, and well above the historical average. This number doesn’t include the recent death of “Division,” a North Atlantic right whale who was found swimming and entangled in gear in New England and months later found dead off North Carolina.
Current Protections
Unfortunately, whales will continue to die on our coastlines this year. However, the numbers could be far worse if it weren’t for the protections that come from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
Both laws passed with overwhelming bipartisan support back in the 1970s and have incredible success rates. Since their passing, no marine mammal has gone extinct in U.S. waters, and the ESA has protected 99% of animals under its care from going extinct. That’s not a coincidence, that’s the law working.
But these protections are now under threat. Efforts by the Trump administration and Congress to weaken the ESA and the MMPA for the sake of economic considerations put whales at even greater risk. To do so at a time when whales are already dying in alarming numbers is a choice to allow short-term profits over the survival of entire species.
What Can Be Done
Join Oceana now to fight back against attacks to bedrock laws that support marine mammal science and conservation. Tell our governments to save the whales.
