Environmental groups have formally petitioned the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to relist the gray whale under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), warning that climate change is driving a catastrophic mortality event in the Pacific Ocean.
The estimated population of gray whales has nearly halved, dropping from 20,000 in 2019 to fewer than 13,000 in 2026, with the rate of deaths accelerating, according to a report from The Guardian.
Melting sea ice in Alaska is depleting vital food sources, causing the whales to starve, while ship strikes, oil spills, microplastic pollution, and algal blooms contribute to the ongoing die-off.
Dire Situation for Gray Whales
"The whales are in very, very serious trouble," said Rick Steiner, an Alaska marine ecologist and chair of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility’s (PEER’s) board of directors.
"The stranding numbers last year and this year are enormous compared to their annual average," Steiner added.
Gray whales migrate annually from Baja California to Alaska to feed. They previously approached extinction in the 1970s before rebounding through conservation efforts and were delisted in 1994.
Population estimates for 2026 are most dire, with between 2,500 and 8,000 whales estimated to have died so far this year, fulfilling the criteria for a catastrophic mortality event.
Marine biologists can only count whales that wash ashore. Through the first half of this year, 146 carcasses have been directly counted.
The average annual number of gray whale strandings from 2006 to 2023 was 43, but that number rose significantly to 179 in 2025.
Scientific literature estimates that the actual ratio between unobserved offshore mortalities and observed onshore mortalities ranges from 7-to-1 to 25-to-1.
Ecologists note that stranded cetaceans are emaciated, and a scientific consensus indicates they are starving due to loss of food access driven by dramatic sea ice reduction around Alaska.
"The environment may now be changing at a pace or in ways that is testing the time-honored ability of the population to rapidly rebound while it adjusts to a new ecological regime," said David Weller, a NOAA marine biologist.
Beyond climate factors, some stranded whales show signs of ship strikes, and Indigenous populations in Russia hunt the species, killing up to 40 whales annually.
Advocacy groups also claim the Trump administration is actively increasing regional oil drilling, introducing more pollution and environmental threats.
A formal NOAA response to the federal petition is due in about a month.
"The gray whales are in dire straits, so hopefully they see that and this can be the first one they list," Steiner said.
If the administration rejects the request, PEER plans to file a lawsuit, noting that the second Trump administration has not yet added any animal to the protected list.
California currently maintains voluntary ship speed reduction zones that have successfully halved whale ship strike deaths in those specific waters.
"If you lose thousands of whales in two years – that should concern everyone," Steiner said.
