A 12-feet long grey whale was found washed ashore in San Clemente, CA, on Friday morning. The juvenile was already dead by the time the rescue team arrived. For now, it could not yet be determined whether the whale was malnourished or what might have caused its death. A necropsy this week will shed further light on the reasons.
The gray whales are currently on their migration from the nursing grounds in Mexico northbound to the feeding grounds near Alaska. During the last year, more than 200 individuals had been washed ashore on that journey. Such an unusually high number that the NOAA declared an Unusual Mortality Event, freeing more resources for research. So far, the organizations are still “waiting to see what happens” as they keep a watchful eye on the grey whales. The gray whale stranding on Friday has only been “the fourth stranding reported in California since the beginning of the year”.
The stranding event has been covered here: https://www.ocregister.com/2020/03/06/dead-gray-whale-washes-up-on-san-clemente-beach/
Questions about the Unusual Stranding Event are answered here: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-life-distress/2019-2020-gray-whale-unusual-mortality-event-along-west-coast
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