In just one day last week, Jessie Huggins with Cascadia Research Institute responded to three reports of whales stranded on Washington beaches.
The number of whales washing ashore and dying in Washington are at their highest in at least 10 years, and scientists aren't sure why.
Entanglements in fishing gear are also increasing.
"We are very concerned about the increase in entanglements and other human interactions," Huggins said.
Over the weekend, a newborn killer whale was found dead, but she was so young and her condition was so poor that officials couldn't determine where she came from. They took DNA samples for lab testing.
"So far, we're halfway through the year, we've seen double the number of average strandings for a year and double the number of average entanglements. That's a huge increase," said SR3 Executive Director Amalia Walton. "There is a resurgence of this large whale population in Washington state. With more whales, we're going to see more entanglements and more strandings. Other than that, we're still looking at data as these events happen."
According to NOAA, there have already been seven whale entanglements this year in Washington and Oregon. It's considered peak entanglement when eight happen in a year.
The average number of gray whale strandings per year is between five and six, though a typical range is anywhere between two and 10 whales. So far in 2018, 10 gray whales have stranded.
Officials say they're concerned and watching, but this doesn't compare to 1999 and 2000 during an unusual mortality event up the West Coast. In those years, more than 600 whales died, between 20 - 25 of those whales died in Washington.
If you see an entangled whale, please call the NOAA Fisheries entanglement reporting hotline at 1-877-SOS-WHALe (1-877-767-9425). Prompt reporting of an entangled whale is the best way to help the animal. Click here for more information.
Q&A: Large Whale Entanglement on Scribd
