Grey Whale

Update 2019/2020 - Many Grey Whale’s stranding as they return from their migration
NOAA Report 2019-2020 Gray Whale Unusual Mortality Event along the West Coast; https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-life-distress/2019-2020-gray-whale-unusual-mortality-event-along-west-coast

Quartz, July 20, 2019, Scientists are worried that a thousand gray whales have died so far this year; https://qz.com/1657495/why-are-gray-whales-starving-in-the-pacific/
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Update December 2017.
Grey Whales were among the species recently assessed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Grey Whales transiting and/or feeding off BC's coast now recognized as 3 populations (Designatable Units / DUs). COSEWIC recommends that 2 receive protection as endangered populations. These recommendations have not yet been accepted by the Federal Government whereby the populations are not receiving changed protections under the Species at Risk Act.

Endangered: 1. Pacific Coast Feeding Group and 2. West Pacific Population
Not at Risk: 3. Northern Pacific Migratory Population

Summary of threats from COSEWIC's previous assessment:

-Habitat loss or degradation (e.g., development of breeding lagoons in Mexico, oil and gas

exploration along migratory pathways and on feeding grounds in US and Canadian waters,

- Mortality from entanglement in fishing gear and marine debris

- Mortality from boat collisions

See the summary of the Nov 2017 assessments here https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/committee-status-endangered-wildlife/wildlife-species-assessment/wildlife-species-assessment-summary-nov-2017.html.

See detail on the 3 Grey Whale populations from the BC Cetacean Sightings Network herehttp://wildwhales.org/2017/12/08/cosewic-recommends-an-endangered-listing-for-canadas-eastern-pacific-grey-whales/.

COSEWIC. 2017. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Grey Whale Eschrichtius robustus, Northern Pacific Migratory population, Pacific Coast Feeding Group population and the Western Pacific population, in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. xxi + 74 pp. (http://www.registrelepsararegistry.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=en&n=24F7211B-1).

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BC Cetacean Sightings Network species information - click “Species ID” at top of the page and see link for Grey Whale http://wildwhales.org/speciesid/

Species information by the Hakai Institute “Central Coast Biodiversity” http://www.centralcoastbiodiversity.org/marine-mammals.html

2011 Canadian Management plan

Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) past assessment. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page for further reports on the species.

COSEWIC report on the biology of grey whales and the threats to them - http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/cosewic/sr_grey_whale_e.pdf -

Specific information for British Columbia

LA Times; February 13, 2012; “Big Miracle: The story behind film about 3 ice-stranded whales”

Reports of what has been found in dead grey whale’s stomachs:

• June 2010: Cascadia Research - Examination of gray whale from west Seattle reveals unusual stomach contents but no definitive cause of death; includes golf ball, plastic, duct tape, etc (June 2010).
• April 2012: Huffington Post - Puget Sound Dead Whale Had Swallowed Golf Ball, Cause Of Death Unknown; Cascadia Research’s report on the necropsy here.

See information from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

Good background information from the “Clayoquot Whales” project.

Voices of the Sea - website where you can hear the sounds of grey whales, see the spectrogram of their sounds, see video clips and learn cool facts from scientists! Click on the humpback whale and then click on the grey whale at the bottom of the page.

Video about grey whales when they are at the breeding grounds in Baja California, Mexico. They are seeing the grey whales feed there which suggests there is not enough food for them in the north, in their feeding areas. The video also shows the whale watching practices at this end of the whales’ range (= so close they are touching the whales).

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/species/species_greyWhale_NP_e.asp - DFO pages on threats and natural history. Good summary.

http://www.acsonline.org/issues/grayWhales/sanignacio.html - information about the plan to put a salt plant in the grey whale's breeding lagoon in Mexico.

http://www.mi.mun.ca/mi-net/fishdeve/cetacea3.htm - DFO page - general natural history

http://www.speciesatrisk.gc.ca/search/speciesDetails_e.cfm?SpeciesID=356 - SARA report on the grey whale

Pacific Wildlife Foundation’s species information.

http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~deecke/er.html - Brief summary of research by Dr. Volker Deecke

DFO publication: Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises of British Columbia, Canada - http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/241969.pdf

http://www.killerwhale.ca/animals-grey.html - information from Environment Canada 2005

American Cetacean Society information (see link on left) http://acsonline.org/education/fact-sheets/

Voices of the Sea very cool website where you can hear the sounds of the grey whale, see the spectrogram of its calls sounds, see video and learn cool facts from experts! Click on the grey whale and then "learn more." The interview is in Spanish but it translated under the image.

http://www.vanaqua.org/education/aquafacts/graywhales.html - Aquafacts from the Vancouver Aquarium

http://www.pacificwildlife.ca/graywhale.htm - Pacific Wildlife Foundation; lots of information

http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/School_Programs/whales/s-greywhale.html Royal British Columbia Museum's fact sheets

http://www.ukogorter.com/portfolio/cetaceanslides/index.html - great illustration, use the drop down menu under the right whale to find your animal

http://www.pbs.org/kqed/oceanadventures/episodes/whales/indepth-navigation.html - amazing vocal sample! (Jean Micheal Cousteau's Ocean Adventures)

http://www.wdcs.org/dan/publishing.nsf/allweb/A59B71D6C8A9EB17802568F800443577 - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society's species information Not a Canadian page

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jaap/cet-grey.htm Not a Canadian page

http://www.whales.org.au/discover/gray/index.html Not a Canadian page

http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/bis/marine_mammals.php?selected=beschrijving&menuentry=soorten&id=77 - lots of detail about identification some information about behaviour and threats. An international webpage.

http://www.dosits.org/gallery/intro.htm - click your species name to hear its sounds! and http://www.dosits.org/animals/intro.htm - study how marine mammals make sound and how sound effects them.

http://www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/mammals/whales/accounts/grey.htm - Information from the University of Guelph, Ontario. Be sure to explore all the pages, links given on the left.

http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/learning/education/whales/gray.asp - This is an American website so be careful when using it for population estimates in BC and COSEWIC status in your report

http://www.pacificenvironment.org/twowhales - conservation issues of grey whales Not a Canadian page

http://www.savethewhales.org/gray.html - information from the American "Save the Whales"organization

www.oceanlink.island.net - Bamfield Research Station’s detailed marine biology page search for your species

http://www.cetacea.org/gray.htm - Site is currently down. Will be up again in the summer of 2007. Especially valuable for its "influence of man" section

http://www.ngo.grida.no/wwfap/whalewatching/whales_grey.shtml Not a Canadian page

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Eschrichtius_robustus.html Not a Canadian page

http://www.dosits.org/gallery/marinemm/2.htm - click baleen whales and then gray whale for acoustic samples

http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/intermediate.asp?curGroupID=5 - Click "marine mammals" and do a search for your animal. Excellent on-line field guides

www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/mammals.htm and http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archivemammals.htm
- involvement of Lester B. Pearson School in a fantastic marine mammal project. Search the site at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/web/sitemap.htm

http://www.whalesongs.org/cetacean/home.html - natural history of cetaceans

http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/ - general info for many cetaceans

http://www.pbs.org/oceanrealm/seadwellers/ - blue whale, humpback and gray whale information

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/fungames/animations/swim-with-the-whales - click your species for information about whaling and also watch the animated video of relative whale sizes (“Diving With Whales”)

http://netvet.wustl.edu/marine.htm - net vet marine mammals; search links for information that may be relevant to your species Not a Canadian page