A gray whale was found in Keil Cove April 27 and then drifted to Lime Point in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, experts said. The whale was still alive and underweight when researchers found it, and it “spent 47 days exploring San Francisco Bay.”
Another gray whale was found washed up May 3 in the Port of Oakland and a third was found May 4 at Angel Island State Park. Experts weren’t able to perform an animal autopsy on any of the three whales to determine the cause of death but collected samples for research.
Four gray whales and one fin whale have been found dead in the San Francisco Bay Area since early April, McClatchy News previously reported. Three of the whales had injuries related to a ship strike.
Fed Plan to Extend Point Reyes Ranch Leases, Kill Tule Elk, Moves Forward In Point Reyes National Seashore, the National Park Service caters to cattle industry profits over the preservation of public land. George Wuerthner
May 10, 2021
Fences. Everywhere I went during a recent trip to Point Reyes National Seashore, I encountered fences. There are 300 miles of these barriers throughout the 71,000-acre national seashore. Why are there fences in a national park unit? The National Park Service (NPS) would say they are part of a “cultural heritage” that needs to be protected. But these fences are symbolic of a controversy at Point Reyes. They exist to facilitate the private use of public lands, for the personal profit of the cattle industry, with the full blessing of the park service charged to preserve the area’s natural values.
3 more dead gray whales spotted in San Francisco Bay Area
May 7, 2021
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SAUSALITO, Calif. (AP) Three more dead whales have been spotted in the San Francisco Bay in recent days, bringing the total to eight this year, experts said Friday.
The gray whales were found washed ashore on April 27 in Tiburon, on Monday at the Port of Oakland and on Tuesday at Angel Island State Park north of San Francisco, according to The Marine Mammal Center.
The Tiburon whale, which later drifted to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, had earlier been spotted alive but underweight. The animal appeared to have spent 47 days exploring the bay before dying, according to the mammal center.
The whales spend the winter off Mexico’s waters, then they head back north and stay off the coast of California in spring and summer.
Scientists believe the numbers observed on shore are a fraction of the real die-off. They say many more die at sea and are never observed, instead floating offshore or sinking to the bottom.
Although the gray whales are still migrating north from Baja California, fewer whales have stranded this year than in the two previous years just 68 so far.
While the death of these whales is tragic, Milstein said, it offers an opportunity to “better understand what’s affecting the other 20,000 remaining gray whales out there.”