Environmental groups take steps to sue to compel new protections for gray whales

Hundreds of gray whales have turned up dead in recent years on beaches from Mexico to Alaska, and the population dropped by about half over a decade

A gray whale carcass washed up on a beach north of Ocean Shores, Washington. It was one of the 187 gray whales that, as of late August, have been found dead this year along West Coast shorelines from Mexico to Alaska. Environmentalists are seeking a return of Endangered Species Act protections for the population, and they cited recent years' die-offs as a major part of the justification. (Photo by Hal Bernton)

By Yereth Rosen

Alaska Beacon

Amid a decade of die-offs and a sharp decline in the population of gray whales that swim along the Pacific coast of North America, three environmental groups are preparing to sue the Trump administration over its failure to bring back Endangered Species Act protections for the animals.

The Center for Biological Diversity, the International Marine Mammal Project and Oasis Earth on Tuesday submitted a notice of intent to sue the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration over gray whale protections.

Oasis Earth submitted a petition a year ago to NOAA Fisheries for a threatened or endangered listing to be granted to the Eastern North Pacific gray whale population. But the agency neither issued a 90-day finding on the petition’s validity nor a 12-month finding on the population’s status, as required under the law, the groups’ notice said.

With its population halved over the past decade, the gray whales’ situation is dire, the groups said. Lapses in Endangered Species Act action put the whales “at greater risk of extinction,” their notice said. “These delays contribute to the decline of the gray whale population.”

A notice of intent to sue, which is filed at least 90 days before a complaint is filed, is required under the Endangered Species Act.

The Eastern North Pacific gray whalepopulationwas estimated at about 27,000 in the 2015-2016 period. Last year, the population fell to about 12,890, one of the lowest levels since counts began in the late 1960s, according to NOAA Fisheries. This year’s count indicated a bit of a rebound, with a median estimate of 17,750 animals, the agency said last month.

Despite that increase, Endangered Species Act protections are still needed, the environmental groups said.

“We’ve lost half of these Pacific gray whales in just a decade. It couldn’t be clearer that the population needs protections, but we’re just getting silence from the Trump administration as the crisis unfolds,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity. 

“Gray whales are washing up dead all along the West Coast, and if federal officials keep dragging their feet, it could be too late for the species,” she said. “These majestic whales are starving and they face other threats we need to fix to save these creatures from extinction.”

Agency spokesman Michael Milstein declined to comment Tuesday on the environmental groups’ notice. He cited NOAA’s policies on pending litigation.

The Eastern North Pacific gray whale population has been struck by die-offs for several years, with beached animals found from Mexico to Alaska. NOAA determined that deaths from 2018 to 2023, with 690 documented cases, constituted an “unusual mortality event,” a finding that justifies further research. After a brief lull, the gray whale die-offs picked up.

There were 179 gray whales found dead last year along the Pacific coast, according to NOAA. This year’s toll has already exceeded that. As of Tuesday, 187 had been found dead this year, including 22in Alaska, Milstein said.

The emaciated condition of the dead whales has supported scientists’ contention that the die-offs are tied to climate change. The whales spend summers feeding in Arctic and subarctic waters off Alaska, and long-term warming and changes in sea ice have affected supplies of the high-fat prey that gray whales need, scientists say.

Climate change and the resulting loss of suitable prey is the main threat facing the gray whales, the environmental groups said in their notice. But there are other threats, including ship strikes and entanglements in fishing gear and marine debris, the notice said.

A recent NOAA Fisheries report cites 31 documented cases of gray whale entanglements in fishing gear in Alaska from 1990 to 2024.

Eastern North Pacific gray whales were previously protected under the Endangered Species Act, but they were delisted in 1994 following a population increase that scientists attributed to the end of commercial whaling.

That delisting was premature, the environmental groups argue in their notice of intent to sue.

• Yereth Rosen came to Alaska in 1987 to work for the Anchorage Times. She has been reporting on Alaska news ever since, covering stories ranging from oil spills to sled-dog races. She has reported for Reuters, for the Alaska Dispatch News, for Arctic Today and for other organizations. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.