\n<\/p>\n
A juvenile gray whale that amazed Washington state residents after it swam 20 miles up a small river was found dead, and an official with a marine mammal research group suspects hunger may have driven the whale to new hunting grounds as the species’ population declines.<\/p>\n
The whale was discovered Saturday near Raymond, Washington, in the Willapa River, which feeds into the ocean at Willapa Bay. A number of gray whales are currently in the bay on their 5,000 mile (8,000 kilometer) spring migration from birthing rounds in Baja California, Mexico, north to feeding grounds in Alaska.<\/p>\n
The larger issue that the population of gray whales in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean has been facing since 2019 is reduced food availability in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas off Alaska\u2019s coast, John Calambokidis, a research biologist with the Cascadia Research Collective, told The Associated Press on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cGray whales are facing a major crisis and the heart of it does seem to be feeding on their prey in the Arctic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries agency declared an unusual mortality event for eastern gray whales<\/a> \u2014 meaning those in the eastern Pacific \u2014 from late 2018 to late 2023. It involved 690 gray whale strandings<\/a> during that time, stretching from Alaska<\/a> to Mexico.<\/p>\n NOAA Fisheries investigators concluded the preliminary cause was \u201clocalized ecosystem changes in the whales\u2019 sub-Arctic and Arctic feeding areas that led to changes in food, malnutrition, decreased birth rates and increases mortality.\u201d<\/p>\n