A dead gray whale was found washed ashore near San Leandro Marina Park

Scientists from the Marine Mammal Center take measurements during a September 2022 necropsy of a stranded humpback whale found at Manhattan Beach. The whale was later identified as Fran, one of California's most popular whales.

SAN LEANDRO, CA — A dead gray whale was found washed ashore near San Leandro Marina Park, according to numerous reports on social media last week.

First noticed on Friday, April 7, the whale, which is approximately 10 feet in length appeared to have been struck by a ship, though that has yet to be confirmed according to Marine Mammal Center representative Giancarlo Rulli who spoke with Patch.com about the find.

Rulli said the Marine Mammal Center team was alerted to the dead whale Friday and a team from the California Academy of Sciences was sent to perform a necropsy, the results of which could come as early as Tuesday.

"This was a California Academy of Sciences led investigation with us because they had more capacity than us in terms of team members on Saturday," Rulli said, adding that it was important for the team to get there and perform the necropsy as quickly as possible.

"It is that tissue really tells the story," Rulli said explaining that while the average person can see what could be construed as indications of a ship strike, that may not actually be the cause of the mammal's death.

"You can have what appears to the outside viewer that a whale may have been struck by a vessel, but if that whale is already dead and floating at the top of the surface, that's not the cause of death," he explained. "S0 that is why getting out there while the tissue is still fresh is key because it is in the tissue that you can see whether there was internal bleeding which is a key indicator that yes, the whale died as a result of a vessel strike."

Second whale stranding in two weeks

The whale is the second stranding in the Bay Area to be reported this year, the Marine Mammal Center said. The first, a dead gray whale was found on Bolinas Beach in Marin County on March 25. A team of experts concluded that whale died as a result of blunt force trauma because of a vessel strike.

The two whales are part of an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event, an increase in whale strandings over the past several years and that led to NOAA Fisheries' declaration of an unusual mortality event, or UME.

The increase in whale strandings, not just in the San Francisco Bay Area, but all up and down the West Coast, according to information obtained by Patch and first reported on in the Sept. 1, 2022, article "Beloved Whale 'Fran' Killed Off Coast Near Half Moon Bay," has been ongoing since 2019.

“Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, an unusual mortality event is defined as ‘a stranding that is unexpected; involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population; and demands immediate response,’” Justin Greenman, NOAA’s assistant stranding network coordinator for the West Coast Region, explained during a September 2022 interview.

According to Greenman the normal average is one to two strandings a year.

With the discovery of the gray whale in San Leandro bringing the 2023 strandings up to two in the San Francisco Bay Area, the UME is likely to continue, officials said.

UME likely to be ongoing

"It's early and I think that is key. The migration is just getting underway. We have several months to go here," Rulli said.

According to NOAA Fisheries, to date this year, six whales have stranded on the West Coast of the United States, the two in California, three in Oregon and one in Washington State.

In 2022, a total of 47 whales stranded on the West Coast of the United States with a total of 105 stranded whales along the entire western seaboard including the United States, Mexico and Canada with most coming from the warmer waters of Mexico where whales migrate to breed and bear their calves.

To investigate the UME, NOAA said it has assembled an “independent team of scientists to coordinate with the Working Group on Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events to review the data collected, sample stranded whales, consider possible causal linkages between the mortality event and recent ocean and ecosystem perturbations and determine the next steps” for the investigation.

“While the cause of many UMEs is unknown, the investigation aims to determine the cause of all UMEs, when possible,” NOAA said.

According to researcher John Calambokidis, only 5 percent of whale mortalities are documented on the beach.

“I've been disappointed that now, more than 10 years later, we're still, at this voluntary level, when we know that those speed restrictions are what it would take to reduce legality,” Calambokidis said. “Recent surveys we've done indicated there's a major concentration of feeding humpbacks right now in one of the most heavily used shipping lanes coming and going from San Francisco and it seems like it would be an ideal case where something like mandatory speed restrictions would help.”

How boaters can help

Experts aren’t the only ones who can make a difference when it comes to helping the whales during the UME as they migrate between Alaska to feed and Mexico’s Baja peninsula to breed, Greenman said.

“During the UME we have been seeing more whales closer to shore,” he said. “So the public can help us by being responsible boaters and fishers by giving the animals space. If a dead whale is seen folks can report it to our West Coast Region Stranding Hotline: 1-866-767-6114. If an entangled whale is seen, they can report it to 877-SOS-WHALE.”

Boaters can also contact the U.S. Coast Guard on VHF Channel 16.

When finding a stranded mammal, remember all are federally protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Only local and state officials and people authorized by NOAA Fisheries may legally handle live and dead marine mammals so don’t approach or touch injured or dead marine mammals.

The general public can also visit Pay.gov to donate to the Marine Mammal UME Contingency Fund for the current or other UMEs and help cover costs incurred by the Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

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A dead gray whale was found washed ashore near San Leandro Marina Park

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