Dead Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus)

Observation: On June 10, 2015 we received a report from fisherman Daniel Mack that he had seen a dead whale located near Pankoff and East Anchor on the south side of the Alaska Peninsula. Mack, a crew member of the F/V Echo was participating in a project designed to conduct community based ecological monitoring by fishermen in the King Cove/Aleutian Region funded by the North Pacific Research Board. Video and screen captures were taken by the crew of the F/V Echo. Dakota Walker, BeringWatch Sentinel Program / Agdaagux Tribe of King Cove

Sea Grant Alaska Consult: The carcass was identified as a gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus). A Level A Marine Mammal Stranding Form was filled out to report the sighting to the National Marine Fisheries (NMFS) Marine Mammal Stranding Program. The observation was immediately added to a growing number of dead whale sightings that had recently been designated as the 2015 Gulf of Alaska Large Whale Unusual Mortality Event or UME. Kate Wynne, Sea Grant, Marine Advisory Program, University of Alaska Fairbanks

See more of this story at: www.beringwatch.net

LEO says: NOAA FISHERIES | Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Gray Whale (Eshchrichtius robustus) - Gray whales are now found only in the North Pacific along the west coast of North America and along the coast of eastern Asia. Each fall, the North American whales migrate south to Baja California, in Mexico, most of them starting in November or December. They winter mainly along the west coast of Baja California, where calves are born in lagoons and bays from early January to mid-February. The northbound migration generally begins in mid-February and continues through May, with cows and newborn calves migrating northward primarily between March and June. Most of the North American whales spend the summer feeding in the northern Bering and Chukchi Seas. However, some are observed in the summer, feeding in waters off of Southeast Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California. Photo-identification studies of this "Pacific coast feeding aggregation" indicate that they move widely within and between areas on the Pacific coast, are not always observed in the same area each year, and may have several year gaps between resightings. Newborn gray whale calves are about 5 m in length and as adults can grow up to 14.1 m and can weigh over 35 tons. National Marine Mammal Laboratory