Slightly Rare: Fin Whale Washes Up on N. Oregon Coast - and They Knew It Was Coming

Published 02/07/26 at 7:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Gearhart, Oregon) – It's actually fairly rare: a fin whale washing up on the Oregon coast does not happen often. In fact, it didn't happen for 20 years, at one point. (Photos and video Seaside Aquarium)

However, another did occur today - Saturday - according to Seaside Aquarium's Tiffany Boothe. The fourth since 2002.

“A 46-foot fin whale washed ashore this morning north of Sunset Beach near Warrenton, Oregon,” she said. “The whale had been dead for quite some time prior to washing ashore. A necropsy will be scheduled for next week to attempt to determine the cause of death.”

Seaside Aquarium's Keith Chandler told Oregon Coast Beach Connection there were no obvious signs of death.

“It had one chunk taken out of it, and that was probably from a shark bite,” he said. “That wouldn't have killed it.”

It's entirely possible it simply died of natural causes. Sea creatures are not immortal – they die all the time. It's actually a wonder why more dead things don't wash up.

“The only species of whale larger than a fin whale is the blue whale,” Boothe said.

Michael Milstein with National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration has talked to Oregon Coast Beach Connection in the past about these beasts.

“We estimate about 8,000 fin whales off the West Coast but they generally stay farther offshore in deeper water, so they are rare to show up in strandings on shore,” Milstein he said.

They get up to 80 feet long, Boothe said.

She also cautioned people to stay away.

“While we encourage people to go check out this amazing creature, it is important to remember to look- but do not touch,” Boothe said. “Any whale, dolphin, porpoise, or pinniped can spread potential diseases to humans and pets.”

Because the whale had been dead for what Chandler said was likely weeks, it smelled pretty bad. But he's smelled worse, he said. The fin whale was also well on its way towards deterioration.

“Half of its skin had come off, half of it was still there,” he said.

Chandler said they'd received a heads up several days ago the whale was floating not far away.

“Got a call from a fisherman it was floating out there about 17 miles offshore,” he said. “So we knew it was out there, we just didn't know where it was going to end up.”

Chandler said from 2002 until 2022 they hadn't encountered any. There was another in 2024.

The one in 2002 was rather extraordinary as a chunk of it had floated up the Columbia to the Portland area, and that chunk suddenly resurfaced next to a boat on the river.

The sub-adult fin whale in 2024 held a few more twists and turns when it showed up at Sunset Beach – the exact area today's whale stranded. Not only was that 46-foot male sick and emaciated – something whale experts are very concerned about – but this member of an endangered species had signs of an orca attack and was caught in fishing gear.

Witnesses thought it was still alive because the surf was moving it around. It was not. Sometime before the Seaside Aquarium and Marine Mammal Stranding Network arrived, one witness removed the fishing gear.

That is illegal – and a bad idea.

“Unfortunately, before authorized responders had a chance to examine the whale, someone removed the entangling gear,” Boothe said at the time. “While it may have seemed like a good idea at the time, this compromised the stranding and entanglement investigation.”

The blow of a fin whale can get up to 20 feet into the air, seen as far away as several miles. This species is among the fastest as well as largest in the world, able to scoot along at 29 mph.

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