Saving Seafood

Whale entanglement reports declined slightly in 2023, NMFS reports

July 29, 2025 — Entanglement in fishing gear or marine debris ensnared 64 large whales in U.S. waters during 2023, below the average annual number of cases in recent years but not yet a clear trend, the National Marine Fisheries Service reported.

The National Report on Large Whale Entanglements Confirmed in the United States in 2023 notes the 64 confirmed large whale entanglement cases nationally was less than 67 confirmed large whale entanglement cases in 2022.

“It is also below the average annual number of confirmed entanglements over the previous 16 years (which was 71.8),” according to a July 28 summary from the agency. “We will continue to analyze data from 2023 to understand whether this dip is temporary or part of a longer-term downward trend.”

Along with ship strikes, entanglements are a threat to individual whales and threatened or endangered species, such as the North Atlantic right whale with a population now estimated at only around 370 animals.

Reducing that danger to meet NMFS’ mandates  under the Marine Mammal Protection Act drives management actions on the East, Gulf and West coasts, including changes to fishing seasons, gear restrictions and efforts to develop and test so-called ropeless gear in fisheries.

According to a NMFS  breakdown of 2023 confirmed entanglement cases, 61 cases or 95 percent involved live animals, and three were whales found dead and floating when initially reported. The 2023 cases were lower than the average annual number of 71.8 confirmed entanglements from 2007–2022.

Four species of large whales were documented with 2023 entanglements in U.S. waters: humpback whales,  gray whales, minke whale and North Atlantic right whales.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Eastern North Pacific Gray Whales Continue Decline After Downturn During Unusual Mortality Event

June 19, 2025 — The eastern North Pacific population of gray whales that migrates along the West Coast of the United States has continued to decline, with reproduction remaining very low. Two new Technical Memorandums from NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center report the estimated population size and calf productivity in 2025.

The initial population estimate of gray whales, following an Unusual Mortality Event that ended in late 2023, suggested that their numbers may have begun to rebound last year. However, the most recent count from winter 2025 instead reveals a continuing decline. The new count estimates an abundance of about 13,000 gray whales, the lowest since the 1970s.

Only about 85 gray whale calves migrated past Central California on their way to feeding grounds in the Arctic earlier this year. That’s the lowest number since records began in 1994. Low calf numbers since 2019 indicate that reproduction has remained too low for the population to rebound.

The estimates are based on models that combine visual sightings from NOAA Fisheries research posts in Central California with assumptions about how the whales migrate. The assumptions create some margin for error, but the models indicate that in 2025 the population is most likely between 11,700 and 14,500. They indicate the number of calves produced was between 56 and 294.

The annual estimates are most valuable in revealing population trends over time rather than pinpointing the number of whales or calves in a given year, scientists said.

Past Resilience Wanes

Scientists attributed the Unusual Mortality Event from 2019 to 2023 to localized ecosystem changes that affected the Subarctic and Arctic feeding grounds. Most gray whales rely on prey in this region for energy to complete their 10,000-mile round-trip migration each year. The changes contributed to malnutrition, reduced birth rates, and increased mortality. Related research has linked fluctuations in the gray whale population to the availability of prey in its summer feeding grounds in the Arctic.

The gray whale population has proved resilient in the past, often rebounding quickly from downturns such as an earlier UME from 1999 to 2000. That makes the ongoing decline in abundance and reproduction following the more recent UME stand out, said Dr. David Weller, director of the Marine Mammal and Turtle Division at the Science Center and an authority on gray whales.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

‘Great whale conveyor belt’ nourishes the ocean

March 20, 2025 — Whales are the bees of the ocean.

That’s a conclusion of new research showing that whales undertake the longest journeys to transport nutrients of any mammal or large animal on Earth, much like bees collect and distribute pollen.

Researchers from the University of Vermont, who published their findings in Nature Communications, found that humpback, gray and right whales transport more than 3,700 tons of nitrogen each year while migrating along what’s been dubbed the “great whale conveyor belt.”

“Humpback whales and gray whales make the longest-distance migrations of any mammal on the planet, thousands of miles every year,” said study author Joe Roman. “So this study is the first one that I’m aware of that tries to quantify that movement.”

Read the full article at wbur

CALIFRONIA: With whales present, California wildlife department stops crab fishing to reduce entanglement threat

April 8, 2024 — With humpback whales heading back to their feeding grounds off coastal California and gray whales migrating north to Alaska, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it will close the commercial and recreational Dungeness crab fisheries in southern and central fishing zones including Monterey Bay to reduce the risk of entanglements.

Recently spotters with the department counted as many as 34 humpbacks in one day, said Ryan Bartling, a senior environmental scientists at the wildlife agency. The increased presence of whales observed by planes overhead and vessels on the water triggered the decision to close the fishing season on April 8.

“As it becomes summer, it is not uncommon to see dozens of groups of humpbacks foraging between Monterey Bay and the Gulf of the Farallones (near San Francisco),” he said.

With the closure, the wildlife department is also expected to examine new draft regulations for the fishery, which could set even stricter requirements for when crab fishermen can start fishing with lines and pots and when the season must end.

In former years, before a settlement that led to current regulations limiting the season when the giant mammals are spotted in larger numbers, Dungeness crab fishermen typically started in mid-November and pulled their traps in June. This season, they weren’t allowed to start until late January; fishermen have since pulled in 13 million pounds of crabs worth about $43.4 million.

Whales – and other animals of the sea – can get wrapped up in the lines that connect the pots catching crabs on the ocean floor to buoys on the water’s surface – in 2023, 27 whales were caught in fishing gear off the West Coast, five of which were wrapped up in California Dungeness crab gear, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records.

Read the full article at Santa Cruz Sentinel 

New count of gray whales along West Coast suggests rebound

April 2, 2024 — A new count of the gray whale population along the West Coast shows “signs of recovery” five years after hundreds of them washed ashore and the population began declining, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

Scientists estimate the total number of eastern north Pacific Gray whales to be somewhere between 17,400 and 21,300, an increase from last year’s estimate, which had shown another year of decline. Last season, scientists estimated between 13,200 and 15,960 whales.

“It’s nice to be able to report some good news the last couple of years,” said Aimee Lang, a research biologist with NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Read the full article at the Seattle Times

CALIFORNIA: More Whales Are Washing Up Dead on Bay Area Beaches. Why?

November 19, 2021 — Nineteen gray whales have washed up on California’s coast this year, and in many cases there were no clear signs of what killed them. Communities all along the whales’ long migration route are noticing a similar trend, and whale deaths have been above normal for the past three years.

Crabbers team up with scientists

Even as the scientists puzzle out what’s going on, there is some good news.

Back in 2016, there was a spike in West Coast whale entanglements — 48 of the big animals got caught in fishing lines and gear, some of them fatally. Of those, 19 were traced to commercial Dungeness crab gear. So the state worked with fishermen to try to understand what was happening, and what they could all do to prevent the problem.

Dick Ogg is a commercial Dungeness crab fisherman who got involved with the state effort. On a clear morning, with the sun just rising, Ogg maneuvers his boat out of the harbor in Bodega Bay. He’s been fishing these waters for more than two decades, captaining his small boat with two hired workers. He says he often sees whales.

Read the full story at KQED

West Coast Gray Whales Declined During Unusual Mortality Event, Similar to Past Fluctuations in Numbers

January 20, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The population of gray whales that migrate along the West Coast has declined about 24 percent since 2016. It now stands at an estimated 20,580 whales, a new population assessment (PDF, 7 pages) has found. That is similar to previous fluctuations in the Eastern North Pacific population that has long since recovered from the days of whaling.

The decline coincides with an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event that NOAA Fisheries declared in 2019 for gray whales when strandings increased on the West Coast. It resembles a similar 23 percent decline documented after an unusual mortality event 20 years earlier, in 1999 and 2000. The gray whale population rebounded following that previous UME to greater numbers than before.

The continuing change in gray whale numbers “suggests that large-scale fluctuations of this nature are not rare,” scientists wrote in a NOAA Fisheries Technical Memorandum that reports the new estimate. “The observed declines in abundance appear to represent short-term events that have not resulted in any detectable longer-term impacts on the population.”

Read the full release here

Whale strandings may be sign of recovery

April 8, 2020 — A die-off of several hundred gray whales last year might, in fact, represent a promising future for the creatures, according to an expert in marine mammals.

According to NOAA Fisheries, there were 215 gray whale strandings on the Pacific coasts of the United States, Canada and Mexico during 2019, which the administration classified as an unusual mortality event, defined as “a stranding that is unexpected, involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population and demands immediate response.” A previous gray whale mortality event in 1999 saw an even higher number of strandings.

Bruce Mate has researched marine mammals for more than 50 years and is the former director and endowed chair of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University.

He said the gray whale population had been reduced to between 1,000 and 2,000 animals by 1900 due to commercial whaling. The 20th century brought protections against over-exploitation of whales, first through the League of Nations and, later, by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. The United States also protected them though the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973, all of which helped reduce risks for the population.

Read the full story at the Newport News Times

Whales are dying, but numbers are unknown. Coronavirus has stalled scientific field work

March 30, 2020 — As gray whales began their northern migration along the Pacific Coast earlier this month — after a year of unusually heavy die-offs — scientists were poised to watch, ready to collect information that could help them learn what was killing them.

The coronavirus outbreak, however, has largely upended that field work — and that of incalculable other ecological studies nationwide.

A large network of marine biologists and volunteers in California normally spend this time of year keeping an eye on gray whales, documenting their numbers and counting strandings as the leviathans swim from Mexico to the Arctic.

Scott Mercer, who started Point Arena’s Mendonoma Whale and Seal Study seven years ago, said the watch was called off last week, as he and his wife were told by a local sheriff to disperse and go home.

Read the full story from the Los Angeles Times at MSN

NOAA argues to allow Makah Tribe to hunt gray whales off Washington again

November 15, 2019 — More than two decades ago, Makah tribal members killed a 30-foot gray whale in the waters off the Olympic Peninsula amid bitter protests from animal-welfare activists.

The tribal hunt in May 1999 touched off a protracted legal battle that on Thursday took center stage inside a Seattle federal building.

The proceedings over the tribe’s treaty right to hunt gray whales are expected to last more than a week in the courtroomlike setting.

Opponents have raised concerns about the impacts of climate change on the eastern North Pacific gray population, while the tribe hopes Administrative Law Judge George Jordan will recommend a waiver to the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

The Makah, whose lands are on the northwest tip of Washington, have the right to hunt whales through their 1855 treaty with the U.S. government. Tribal whaling advocates hailed the 1999 hunt as an important renewal of a tradition that helps define the Makah. But opponents have so far blocked, through court and regulatory challenges, the tribe from conducting more federally approved hunts.

Read the full story at The Seattle Times