21st gray whale found dead in WA, outpacing annual record

A deceased gray whale found this week in Willapa Bay marks the 21st confirmed death in Washington of the species this year and the fastest pace of deaths to be recorded at this point in the calendar.

The whale was found Friday in Bay City, Pacific County, according to Cascadia Research Collective, a nonprofit research institute tracking the deaths.

Its discovery comes amid a grim season of deaths up and down the Washington coast. Gray whales have been found dead on the edge of the Olympic Peninsula at Copalis Beach, Ocean Shores, Grayland and Sequim, among other places. One young gray whale confounded Pacific County residents by swimming 20 miles inland via the Willapa River. It died near the town of Raymond.

"Where we were through the end of April was ahead of the pace we had documented in any year going back 50 years," said John Calambokidis, a senior research biologist with Cascadia Research Collective.

The 21 deaths as of this week would be the third-highest we've ever had as an annual total," he added.

Even that figure understates the magnitude, said Calambokidis, who pointed to research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA last year released a report documenting the decline of gray whale calves being born, with 2025 seeing the fewest observed.

There's a lot of nuance in figuring out what's happening with the species, but "a lot of the whales are clearly malnourished, Calambokidis said.

Injuries consistent with vessel strikes are found too, but he said those could also be a side effect of the whales moving into closer waters or unusual areas in their hunt for food.

Scientists have observed boom-and-bust cycles among eastern gray whales, from mass die-offs in the 1990s, to a robust recovery in population that last up late 2018. The whales generally migrate along the West Coast, breeding in Mexico's Baja Peninsula and then feeding in the Arctic.

Material from The Seattle Times archives was included in this story.

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This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 6:43 AM.