A series of gray whale strandings along the West Coast this year has researchers and environmentalists concerned about a decline in the food available to the species in increasingly warm Arctic waters.
Dozens of deceased gray whales have washed up onshore, which many experts say is likely an undercount of the numbers dying at sea.
The species embarks on long annual migrations after wintering in waters in Baja Mexico to summer feeding grounds in the Arctic Ocean. As the whales have traveled north this spring to reach their summer habitat, NOAA Fisheries this year has documented 56 gray whale strandings in the U.S., which combined with strandings in Mexico and Canada totals 123 whales.
Last year, there were 179 gray whale strandings, with 78 counted in the U.S.
