By Delcenia Cosman

Homer Independent Press

Two dead gray whales washed up on Kenai Peninsula beaches in recent weeks, following a larger trend of heightened gray whale mortality along the West Coast that has marine mammal scientists seriously concerned. 

The first washed ashore in Anchor Point on June 29 and the second on a beach near Kasilof about July 3. Both showed signs of malnutrition, though a statement provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that the official cause of death is pending further testing of collected samples, which can take months to complete. 

Biologists with Alaska Veterinary Pathology Services, led by necropsy biologist Natalie Rouse, and the University of Alaska Anchorage responded to the stranded Anchor Point whale, an adult female about 13 meters in length, and conducted a full necropsy on June 30. They were assisted by partners from the Alaska SeaLife Center, Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the Kenaitze Indian Tribe and community volunteers. 

According to Debbie Tobin, biology professor at the UAA/Kenai Peninsula College Kachemak Bay Campus and a volunteer responder for AVPS, the whale was already dead when it washed ashore.

Rouse said that the Anchor Point whale’s major issue was “being malnutritioned in the face of such large energetic costs” such as the whale’s long annual migration route, which can be up to a 10 to 14,000 mile round trip. 

Tissue and harmful algal bloom samples were sent off for testing on July 7. 

According to preliminary necropsy results, the whale had a dry and coarse blubber consistency and a depleted nuchal fat pad, which indicated malnutrition. The nuchal fat pad, located just behind a whale’s skull, serves as a vital energy reservoir and a primary indicator of body condition. 

Tobin said they also discovered sand and spruce needles in the whale’s stomach and trachea, an abnormality that has been seen in some other gray whales that have died from malnutrition.

Tree needles are not a normal diet item for the gray whales that feed by filtering plankton and other food through the comb-like baleen in their mouths. At the same time, Tobin said that while this occurrence is unusual, it’s “not that unlikely” because gray whales are predominantly bottom feeders. 

“They’re near-shore bottom feeders when they can be, especially when they’re heading north on their migration, because oftentimes they have calves with them and then they hug the shore a little bit more to avoid killer whale predation,” she said. “So like any kind of needles — spruce, pine or other things — are just a byproduct of them trying to suction prey off of the seafloor.”

The necropsy also determined that the Anchor Point whale did not have a fetus. 

Teresa Becher is the Kenai and Kasilof Beluga Monitoring Coordinator for the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and KPC. She’s also a volunteer with the Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network and AVPS and was one of the responders to the stranded whale in Kasilof on Sunday. 

Becher and ASLC Wildlife Response staff member Christie Hill initially responded to the stranded whale on July 3.

“The first time it was reported, it was a little farther out in the surf, and by the time we could get out there the tide had come in and we couldn’t even spot it,” Becher said. 

The stranded whale was reported again Saturday night, July 11, about a mile and a half south of North Cohoe Loop. Becher and Hill responded the next day and, under remote direction by Rouse, conducted a partial necropsy.

“We got lucky because it had been a higher tide overnight. We were almost expecting the whale not to be there again, but the tide had pushed it farther up on the shore, which was very helpful,” Becher said. 

She and Hill took skin and blubber samples, which have been sent off for testing, as well as measurements and photos of the whale.

Becher said the whale was a little more than 26 feet long and was “very skinny looking.”

“That whale was really decomposed by that point. It (was) too far rotten for extra samples, but just based on the external look of this whale, it was extremely emaciated,” Rouse said. 

Rouse said that gray whales from this population have been turning up dead in poor body condition all along the West Coast this spring. To date, NOAA has documented 150 gray whales stranded dead from Mexico to Alaska. Eighteen of those have been in Alaska.

NOAA expects the number of mortalities to increase as gray whales continue their migration north.

Reporting by Inside Climate News says that the population and fertility collapse among gray whales has been worsening for seven years and has lasted longer than previous cycles of decline monitored across the past 60 years. A “surge in malnutrition-related mortality” has cut the eastern North Pacific population of gray whales in half, from 27,000 in 2016 to 13,000 in 2025 and reduced calf births by 95%.

NOAA Fisheries has tracked elevated gray whale stranding along the West Coast since an unusual mortality event was declared in 2019. The UME was closed in 2023 following an investigation that, along with related research, found the strandings were “related to ecological changes in the Arctic that have affected the availability of sea-floor prey that most gray whales feed on each summer.”

NOAA said in a statement this week regarding the Anchor Point and other gray whale deaths that these “same factors continue to contribute to ongoing whale strandings.” 

The UME involved 690 gray whale strandings — 347 in the U.S., 316 in Mexico and 27 in Canada — that occurred along the west coast of North America from Alaska to Mexico, including in the whale’s wintering, migratory and feeding areas. According to the UME report, the NOAA Fisheries investigative team found a common cause of death was malnutrition. It did not find underlying disease as a cause of death, though some gray whale deaths were also caused by killer whale predation, entanglement and vessel strikes. Biotoxins were also found in some gray whale carcasses, both within and outside the UME period. 

Harmful algal bloom testing is becoming a more common part of necropsies, especially as ocean temperatures continue to warm. Tobin said that in some cases with gray whales, and one case that she was aware of with a humpback whale, there were positive indications of HAB toxicosis “where they’ve been either suffering from or died from that.”

“Things are warming — whether you want to call it climate change or not, things are definitely changing, and … algal blooms, whether or not they have the toxin in their cells, are responding to that,” she said. 

HABs impact whales through what Tobin called a trophic-level effect — biotoxins accumulate in the tissues of shellfish and invertebrates that the whales eat, thus affecting them higher up on the food chain. 

Other climate change-related factors in addition to ocean warming trends and melting sea ice also negatively impact the whales’ food supply.

“Ocean acidification is also leading to more fragile shells in … invertebrates, and that makes it more difficult for certain bottom feeders,” she said. “Those prey organisms are suffering too…. With increased carbon dioxide and then ocean acidification occurring, those same organisms can’t survive as deep or maybe live as long. We don’t know all the potential effects yet.” 

According to Rouse, a large number of the gray whale strandings have occurred in Washington state. The Cascadia Research Collective, she said, has taken the lead on responding to and tracking those events and keeps a stranding log on its website, which is updated in real time.

CRC has responded to 30 gray whale strandings between March 2 and June 16. Many of the whales were too decomposed for necropsies, but every one that has been examined was emaciated and showed signs of malnutrition. Several whales also exhibited internal trauma consistent with vessel collision.

Community members should report all stranded, injured, entangled or dead marine mammals to the Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network 24-hour hotline at 1-877-925-7773.

Rouse emphasized the importance of reporting deceased whales right away.

“Then we have fresh samples, and we can figure out what’s going on,” she said. “Although, with gray whales at this point … it’s pretty unambiguous. Their major problem is that they are starving.” 

Rouse and volunteers with AVPS are permitted by the National Marine Fisheries Service to respond to marine mammal strandings, under permit number SA-AKR-2023-02.