PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Experts say the number of dead gray whales washing up along the Oregon coast has already reached the average total for the entire year.
The Newport News Times reported a female gray whale washed into Siletz Bay last week and that only 3 dead gray whales a year, on average, wash ashore in Oregon according to data going back 3 decades.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that as of May 1, 37 stranded dead gray whales had been found on the West Coast, including 3 that have washed ashore in Oregon.
A total of 25 were recorded in Oregon, Washington and California in all of 2018.
According to NOAA, the deaths may be due to a lack of nutrition.
Surveys carried out in the lagoons of Mexico where gray whales spend the winter found that many of the animals were unusually skinny. Gray whales rely on the food they consume in Arctic waters during the summer to carry them through the rest of the year.
Experts said many of the whales that have washed up along the West Coast in 2019 were also underweight and had empty bellies, which suggests that the whales are not getting enough food during the summer months.
Despite the unusually high number of dead whales, the NOAA said the overall gray whale population that migrates along the West Coast is very healthy with an estimated population of 27,000.
