Twenty members of California’s House delegation are demanding that NOAA investigate the causes behind the rise of gray whale deaths off the state’s coast.
In a letter to NOAA acting Administrator Laura Grimm and NOAA Fisheries Director Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, the lawmakers referenced a “dramatic surge” in eastern Pacific gray whale deaths so far this year, with 21 confirmed fatalities. The letter pointed out that this total is higher than the gray whale strandings in California in several of the years from 2019 to 2023, when the species experienced an “unusual mortality event” that NOAA attributed to food source disruption in the whales’ primary feeding grounds in the Arctic and sub-Arctic.
They also noted a significant increase in the number of whale sightings in the San Francisco Bay area, where the animals appear to be staying for longer than average.
“Many of the whales appear emaciated, with experts suggesting they may be driven into the Bay by diminishing food sources along their migratory path from Mexico to the Arctic,” the letter penned by California Rep. Sam Liccardo said. All of the lawmakers who signed the letter are Democrats.
