Six lifeless grey whales present in San Francisco Bay space within the final week

Six lifeless grey whales have been discovered within the space of San Francisco Bay during the last week, officers mentioned Wednesday, in a yr when there was an unusually excessive variety of sightings within the space.

The grey whales had been discovered lifeless from Could 21 to Wednesday, when one was discovered washed ashore at Level Reyes Nationwide Seashore, the California Academy of Sciences mentioned.

On Monday, two had been discovered the identical day — one on Alcatraz and one at Level Bonita, it mentioned.

In a lot of the circumstances, no necropsy, which is like an post-mortem for an animal, was carried out. The partial necropsy for a yearling grey whale discovered at Bolinas was inconclusive, and outcomes from the necropsy on the whale discovered Wednesday are pending, the academy mentioned.

The whales have died as an unusually giant variety of them have been noticed in San Francisco Bay, officers mentioned.

Why the whales died was not clear.

“That’s the open query, the why,” Giancarlo Rulli, a spokesperson for the Marine Mammal Heart in Sausalito, instructed NBC Bay Space this week.

“Why not solely are there so many deceased whales within the area, however why has it been a banner yr of getting extra sightings in San Francisco Bay of stay whales than now we have seen in at the very least two-plus a long time, if ever?”

Thus far this yr 14 grey whales and a minke whale have died within the larger San Francisco Bay Space, the academy mentioned, and the deaths of three of them had been discovered to be from boat strikes.

Extra grey whales have been sighted within the bay this yr in contrast with final, it mentioned — 33, in contrast with solely six in 2024.

Some have appeared regular and others emaciated, it mentioned.

“The rationale or potential causes behind the large spike in sightings this yr are nonetheless being investigated by researchers,” the academy mentioned. “It’s anticipated that grey whales shall be within the bay for an additional one to 2 weeks earlier than persevering with their annual northern migration to arctic feeding grounds.”

Grey whales was once widespread in waters all through the Northern Hemisphere however at the moment are repeatedly discovered solely within the North Pacific Ocean, in keeping with the Nationwide Marine Fisheries Service, a part of the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They journey round 10,000 miles in an annual round-trip migration, it mentioned.

Grey whales are identified to be curious round boats, which suggests they’re usually seen on whale-watching journeys, the company mentioned. They will develop to round 49 ft lengthy and weigh about 90,000 kilos.

Due to the lengthy migration, the whales are typically hit by vessels and entangled in fishing gear, that are amongst their high threats, the fisheries service says.