Gray whales continue to wash up dead and emaciated, but causes remain elusive, especially on the coasts of the northernmost Pacific Ocean.
A marine mammal biologist for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, Michael Marzilli, says the most popular theory is that the whales have become depleted of their prey, mainly sea lions, which are their main source of food.
“They have become more tolerant of sea lion predation as more have returned,” Marzilli said.
Scientists, meanwhile, remain baffled at the cause and are just beginning to search for answers.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to send a team of scientists to search for clues on the coast of the Hawaiian Island of Oahu, following the disappearance of the whales in early August.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to send a team of scientists to search for clues on the coast of the Hawaiian Island of Oahu, following the disappearance of the whales in early August.
A team of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrator plans to search for clues on the coast of the Hawaiian Island of Oahu, following the disappearance of the whales in early August.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is sending a team of scientists to search for clues on the coast of the Hawaiian Island of Oahu, following the disappearance of the whales in early August.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s decision to send a team of scientists to Hawaii comes after the National Weather Service recorded more than 1,400 whales dead on the beach at Point Ka’ena, near Honolulu, in the third week of August.
As the whales died, a large amount of seal carcasses washed up on the beach. The amount of seal carcasses washed up on the beach in Hawaii has never before been quantified.
By the time the NOAA team arrived on the scene, after a day of searching the beach, they counted 548 whales, or 53 percent of those counted at Point Ka’ena.
Of the whales NOAA estimates died at Point Ka’ena, a large number – perhaps 75 – died at or soon after the site’s