Two More Dead Whales on Oregon / Washington Coast, Why It's Happening

Published 04/24/26 at 9:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Seaview, Washington) – More dead whales have hit the region in the last three days. A new deceased whale has washed up on the Washington coast, and another whale that was so decayed it was in two parts showed up at Manhattan Beach on the Oregon coast. (File photo from OPRD)

- JUMP DOWN TO WHY THESE ARE WASHING UP

The gray whale in Washington arrived near Seaview Wednesday night, just south of Long Beach, according to Seaside Aquarium. The aquarium's Keith Chandler also told Oregon Coast Beach Connection another whale showed up at Rockaway Beach earlier today (Friday), in the Manhattan Beach section of the town's beaches.

Why it's happening so much lately was also addressed by regional scientists.

Both showed up already deceased – in the case of the Rockaway Beach whale it had been dead a long, long time.

That whale came up in two pieces.

“They thought at first it was two whales, but it turned out to just be one that was in two pieces,” Chandler told Oregon Coast Beach Connection.

That one is believed to be a gray whale. It is too decomposed to go near, so no necropsy will be performed.

Manhattan Beach - Rockaway Beach (Oregon Coast Beach Connection file photo)

This makes the 14th whale stranding on the Washington coast since 2026 began, and the fourth for the Oregon coast. Altogether, it's the 17th for the Pacific Northwest (as one whale that stranded in Seaside was among the count of Washington whales when it was seen floating off Long Beach, before hitting Oregon).

The whale on the Washington coast near Seaview is the second in the Long Beach area in just a week. That one was definitely identified as a gray whale.

Friday morning, Cascadia Research Collective (CRC) arrived on the scene and did a necropsy. They have already determined it was emaciated but there was also blunt force trauma involved. That announcements did not indicate whether this involved a ship strike. It was a female.

Like just about all the gray whales that have stranded on Oregon and Washington shores recently, malnutrition was a major factor in this latest whale.

Julie Conrad, a researcher from the Oregon coast, examined video footage of the whale from local TV broadcasts and told Oregon Coast Beach Connection you can see the spine through the skin, which is a sign of emaciation.

CRC now has a regularly updated page on their site https://cascadiaresearch.org/working-list-of-gray-whale-strandings-in-2026/ that shows necropsy information and a count of the whales in Washington. It does not necessarily include whales that came up on the Oregon coast.

Why have these been washing up?

Part of the issue is that west winds are blowing a lot of objects onshore. The other part is not so innocent.

Whale at Florence in March - photo Jim Rice / Marine Mammal Stranding Network

John Calambokidis, lead researcher with the CRC has been answering this quite a bit as of late. He – like Hatfield Marine Science Center researcher Leigh Torres – said it seems to have much to do with the food sources for the gray whales, and that their food is being affected by things like climate change.

In particular, researchers note the melting of ice in the polar regions is lessening their food supply, and that these whales washing up right now have been starving for awhile. It's likely that the whales dying of starvation now began having trouble finding food last year.

One popular rumor on the net is that it is Navy sound equipment killing the whales, but this is not true. Scientists are certain it is a long-term starvation event, and it shows an unsettling shift.

For background see the article 'Skinny Whales' Remain Issue on Washington / Oregon Coast, But May Be Lessening

Gray whale populations in the East Pacific (Alaska to Baja) have already been reduced by thousands in the last decade, going from an estimated 18,000 around 2014 to as few as 13,000 by 2023. A declaration of an “Unusual Mortality Event” was issued by in the late 2010s after they saw at least hundreds of them die off, likely caused by food and disease issues that could be tied to climate change.

That declaration was ended in 2023, but Torres warned at the time the population did not appear to be recovering. That was proven to be the case since then and now scientists are looking at this alarming new trend.

The CRC said that last year saw 18 dead whales appear on the Washington coast. This time, just four months in, there's already 14.

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