Gray whale washes ashore on Oregon beach amid spike

SEASIDE, Ore. (AP) – Officials with Seaside Aquarium say a female gray whale was found washed ashore Friday south of Sunset Beach.

Biologists at the aquarium performed a necropsy on the 23-foot whale, but “nothing too telling was found,” the aquarium said in a Facebook post.

Officials say they collected heart, lung and stomach content, which will also be tested.

On the U.S. West Coast, about 70 whales have been found dead this year along California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, the most since 2000.

Officials say that’s a fraction of the total number, because most sink or wash up in remote areas and are unrecorded.

NOAA Fisheries late last month declared the die-off an “unusual mortality event,” and is providing additional resources to respond to the deaths.

Officials say the gray whale population remains strong at about 27,000.

Here’s Sunday’s posting by the aquarium:

“Each spring, eastern North Pacific gray whales migrate 10,000 miles or more along the West Coast from winter waters in Mexico where they give birth to summer feeding grounds in the Arctic off Alaska.

“The whales rely largely on their summer feeding in the Arctic to last them throughout the year because they do not feed extensively while migrating or wintering in Mexico. Many gray whales that have stranded this year during their northbound migration have been skinny and malnourished, with some showing signs of emaciation.

“That suggests that some whales may be exhausting their energy reserves this year before they reach the Arctic to resume feeding, researchers say.”