||| FROM THE GUARDIAN |||
The whales are in “very, very serious trouble; the stranding numbers last year and this year are enormous compared to their annual average.”
The estimates are most dire for 2025 and 2026 – somewhere from 2,500 to 8,000 whales are estimated to have died in this timeframe, which meets the criteria for a “catastrophic mortality event.”
Scientific literature estimates the ratio between unobserved, or sunk, mortalities offshore and observed mortalities onshore for gray whales is between 7-to-1 and 25-to-1.
Oregon, Washington and Alaska have not implemented similar programs because of shipping industry opposition, Steiner said, but advocates are pushing for action.
“If you lose thousands of whales in two years – that should concern everyone”
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