A second dead grey whale has washed ashore in British Columbia in less than a week.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada has confirmed that the latest dead whale was reported on May 11 in Haida Gwaii near the community of Skidegate, and a marine mammal response team is working with local First Nations to co-ordinate a necropsy.
The cause of death is unknown, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada says confirming what happened through necropsy reports may take up to three months.
There are three grey whale populations in the North Pacific, and the federal department says it hasn’t been able to establish which one the dead animal found on Haida Gwaii belonged to.
The latest case comes after Parks Canada said a dead whale was spotted floating off Vancouver Island on May 6, before it washed ashore on Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve near Tofino. Two of the populations are classified as endangered.
The department says that the whale was part of the Eastern North Pacific population, which was assessed in 2005 as being of special concern under the federal Species at Risk Act.
Anna Hall, a marine biologist with Sea View Marine Sciences, says she’s concerned but not surprised by the recent deaths, pointing to declining whale numbers observed across the Pacific.
“Going back to February of this year, Mexican scientists were noting record lows a 90 per cent reduction in calf production,” she said. “Essentially beaches in Mexico…were effectively being littered with dead grey whales and many…very skinny looking animals.”
Hall says grey whales face several threats, including ship strikes, entanglement, and exposure to near-shore pollutants. A warming Arctic is also impacting their main food sources.
“Some of them literally are starving to death,” she said.
The Eastern North Pacific grey whale population was severely depleted by commercial whaling in the 20th century, reaching record lows by 1960s.
“The estimate of how many were left after whaling, we don’t really know. Was it tens or ? Was it hundreds or maybe thousands? We don’t know,” Hall says.
After protections were introduced in 1967, the population started to grow but are once again declining, she added.
“The numbers we had just a few years ago are similar to the population size of the late 1960s, to me, that is very, very concerning.”
Juan José Alava, principal investigator with the Ocean Pollution Research Unit at the University of B.C., says similar trends were observed between 2017 and 2021, when more than 500 grey whales were found dead along the West Coast from Mexico to Alaska.
“Many of these individuals were found very emaciated…they didn’t have enough blubber,” Alava said. “That means there was some issue related with the availability of food.”
Alava says shrinking sea ice in Arctic feeding grounds may be disrupting the food chain.
“That might be related to climate change and disruptions in the ecosystem,” he said.
Alava says warming ocean and less sea ice reduces the area for algae to grow, which is consumed by little crustaceans that grey whales feed on.
The federal department has warned people not to touch the dead whales and to keep dogs leashed, and is also asking anyone who sees whales being harassed or disturbed to report to the agency immediately.
Parks Canada says that although the loss of a whale can be difficult to observe, it also provides important nutrients to other animals and the environment.
Whales often beach themselves when sick or injured, and the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida estimates about 2,000 whales come ashore each year.
