Mysterious Death Of Gray Whales In San Francisco Bay Puzzles Scientists

The mysterious death of six gray whales around the San Francisco Bay over the past week has perplexed the officials. The whales washed up ashore between May 21 and 26, taking the total number of whale deaths this year to 14, according to the California Academy of Sciences.

While postmortems have been performed on some of the whales, others have either been too far decomposed or stranded in inaccessible areas, making it difficult for scientists to pin the deaths on one particular cause.

“In 2025, 14 gray whales and one minke whale have died in the greater San Francisco Bay Area region, with the cause of three of the gray whale deaths determined to be suspect or probable vessel strikes,” the academy wrote in a press release Thursday.

“The Academy and partners at the Center have not responded to this many dead gray whales since the height of the Unusual Mortality Event in 2019 (14 individuals) and 2021 (15 individuals)," it added.

An unusually high number of whale sightings has been reported this year in the San Francisco Bay. 33 individual gray whales have been confirmed via photo identification compared to only six gray whales spotted in he entirety of 2024.

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Studying and conservation

While the reason for their death is yet to be ascertained, scientists believe that the gray whales will remain in the bay for another couple of weeks before resuming their annual northern migration to arctic feeding grounds.

Scientists are now studying why the whales are entering the bay in such large numbers and if overcrowding was perhaps, one of the reasons for the spate of deaths. Though scientists are not yet sure why the whales are changing their habits, it could potentially be a result of adapting to changing ocean conditions.

To reduce the risk of whales slamming into boats, the academy is working with the San Francisco Harbor Safety Committee to alter ferry lanes and increase communication via the US Coast Guard so that the boaters can be "whale aware'.