Scientists at The Marine Mammal Center and partners at the California Academy of Sciences have confirmed a dead gray whale that washed up in Richmond died as a result of blunt force trauma due to a suspected vessel strike. The news comes as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a revised population estimate showing continued decline in eastern north Pacific gray whale numbers, some 13,000 individuals, the lowest since the 1970’s.

The Marine Mammal Center first received reports of a dead whale floating underneath the Richmond Long Wharf adjacent to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge on July 7. In a necropsy, or animal autopsy, conducted on July 11, a team of 10 scientists identified the whale as a 37-foot whale in average body condition based on the fat stores and blubber layer. The main finding was hemorrhaging on the animal’s left lateral side between the head and pectoral fin, concentrated near the skull, consistent with blunt force trauma due to a suspected vessel strike.

The dead whale response in Richmond marks the 21st dead gray whale in the Bay Area this year, the most since 2000. The recent population assessment news from NOAA shows gray whales are a sentinel species known for their behavioral adaptability struggling to recover from the recent 2019-2023 Unusual Mortality Event (UME) due to impacts of food resource availability shifts in the arctic because of climate change.

In addition, NOAA reports in a recent web story a concerning statistic that “only about 85 gray whale calves migrated past Central California on their way to feeding grounds in the Arctic earlier this year.” That figure according to NOAA is the lowest number since records began in 1994 and the continued low calf numbers since the start of the UME in 2019 indicates that reproduction rates have remained too low for the population to rebound.

Scientists respond to dead gray whale in San Francisco Bay

See Also: Lawsuit Launched to Protect Whales in California From Ship Strikes