Miyoko Sakashita of the Center for Biological Diversity said gray whales are moving through a “deadly maze” of ships and fishing gear as 60 whales have already died along the West Coast this year. The group is pressing the U.S. Coast Guard to consider a mandatory 10-knot speed limit in areas with heavy whale activity.
West Coast deaths rise
Many of the deaths have been reported in Washington state and the San Francisco Bay area, and Southern California has also seen whale fatalities. Gray whales account for most of the recent deaths, and several of the dead whales showed signs of poor nutrition.
Last year, 24 whale deaths were attributed to ship strikes, and 33 whales were found entangled in fishing gear. The Center for Biological Diversity says warming temperatures in the Arctic are reducing prey availability, pushing the animals through areas with more human activity as they search for food.
Miyoko Sakashita on migration
Sakashita said, “There's much less prey for them, so they've undertaken this huge, long migration, and now they're on their way back up to Alaska, but they're looking for food, and they're pretty desperate, so they're ending up in these areas where there's lots of ships, and there's lots of fishing gear they have to traverse.” She also said, “It's almost a deadly maze that they have to make it through.”
The center also supports wider use of pop-up gear to reduce whale entanglements. If the current trend continues, 2026 could rank among the deadliest years for whales on the West Coast, second only to 2019, when 122 whales were reported dead.
U.S. Coast Guard decision
The requested speed limit would apply in areas with high whale activity and would be a direct way to reduce strike risk during migration. The open question is whether the U.S. Coast Guard will adopt that limit soon enough to affect the deaths already building this year.
