August 27, 2026 — 2026 might very well become the deadliest year on record for whales on the United States’s West Coast.
According to a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, public data from May showed that at least 51 whales died within the area so far for this year. At least 187 deaths — specifically for gray whales — have been reported along the West Coast as well as in Canada and Mexico, a release published Tuesday states.
Gray whales make up most of the reported deaths, the May release adds. Many have been found specifically in the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington.
This means that 2026’s whale death rate on the U.S.’s West Coast might very well surpass 2019’s all-time high of 122. And this issue isn’t specific to the West Coast, either: Oceana states that the East Coast has had its own increase in whale strandings and deaths as well.