The Eastern North Pacific gray whale population has plummeted to its lowest level since the 1970s, with alarming declines in both adult numbers and newborn calves. A recent count by NOAA Fisheries scientists in winter 2025 estimates only about 13,000 gray whales remain, a sharp drop from nearly 27,000 whales counted in 2015-2016. “These are extreme population swings that we did not expect to see in a large, long-lived species like gray whales,” says Joshua Stewart, assistant professor at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute. The situation looks especially grim for the next generation of these massive marine mammals. Only … Continue reading Gray Whale Population Plummets 50%: Arctic Feeding Changes Push Numbers to 1970s Low of 13,000