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Basurto García PaulinaCalderón Clavel Antonio Carrillo Campos Fernando Dávalos Hernández Fernanda Marisol

Why are so many gray whales dying in the Pacific?

Team #9

In winter

Many tourists go to Baja California to see gray whales. Here the adult’s mate and the females give birth and raise their young in a network of quiet ponds.

1. Alarming changes

In 2019 and 2020, gray whale stranding’s along the Pacific coast of North America increased dramatically. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared an "unusual mortality event" and launched an investigation into the causes.

¿What is the reason?

Between 2016 and 2020, the estimated gray whale population of the eastern North Pacific declined by nearly a quarter, from nearly 27,000 individuals to around 20,500.

The whale population has grown too large and she is simply correcting herself.

Reduction in the quantity or quality of the whale's food supply.

Global warming and its impact on the Arctic Ocean are suspected

The reasons are unknown

This issue has acquired an urgency in Mexico because some peoples depend economically on the arrival of whales to the peninsula.

People are worried if the whales do not return.

An example is Camacho, who lives surrounded by nature in a small town near the peninsula.In that town the whales are very important

In that town there are murals and whale statues, and when they return, as every winter, they hold a 3-day festival in their honor. But this was not always the case

In the past

In the past, foreign whalers hunted whales for trade, to the point of bringing them almost to extinction. But thanks to the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, the whales were able to recover.

Friendly whales

Sometime later, Mexico began to promote tourism, with the help of local guides, which brought new job opportunities to that region. Whales became friendly to tourists.

Main biologists part of the Laguna San Ignacio Ecosystem Science Program monitor whales to track their movements and evaluate their health. The whales are so large, although it is difficult to tell from a boat if they are malnourished.

The biologists

Laguna San Ignacio Ecosystem Science Program’s first decade

Necropsies—post-mortem exams on animals—are particularly difficult to conduct on whales because they often die on remote beaches, and they decompose rapidly. But in 2018, the center examined 13.

All along their migration route, whales were stranding in record numbers. In 2019, 214 gray whales were found dead, including 122 in the United States, four times the nation’s annual average over the previous 18 years.

The proportion of single adult whales deemed to be in poor body condition had remained steady, at around 6 percent. But that number began to rise in 2018. By 2020, it had hit 30 percent.

In 2020, 174 gray whales died along the migration route.

The starvation hypothesis has shifted investigators’ focus to Alaska’s Chukchi and Bering Seas, where whales go during the summer to eat amphipods, packing on stores of blubber for their eventual migration back south.

The biologists didn’t know if whales were dying because of food shortages, disease, or possibly pollution.

What is the reason?

Necropsies revealed around half the whales were malnourished, with very low stores of fat around their hearts and other organs.

That would be the simplest answer, but it is complicated by the fact that the gray whale population suffered another dramatic die-off in 1999 and 2000, a period when Arctic ice was far more abundant. The whale population didn’t just recover after that event, it boomed, reaching 27,000 individuals in 2016.

The Arctic seas, though, are changing. A warming climate means less sea ice, which disrupts the production of algae, which in turn feed amphipods.

Climate Change??

“It’s common sense that there must be problems with their feeding, and we also know that there are massive changes in the Arctic. But how those changes are connected is difficult to say.”

“Why was there 20 years between these die-off events when we know the changes in the Arctic have been continual?”

Frances Gulland

paired with dramatic changes in the Arctic environment.

An expanding population of whales

“I think we’re seeing an interaction of events,”

John Calambokidis

It’s a sign that the whales are hungry, the researcher says, but it's also a sign of their resilience.

In recent years, more gray whales have been veering a hundred miles off their migratory path and into Washington’s Puget Sound

Calambokidis

“Maybe gray whales are this adaptive because they’ve had to be,”

Whales can pack on serious weight in just a few weeks—not by eating amphipods on the ocean floor but by feasting in ghost shrimp beds in shallow parts of the sound.

A glimpse of the future?

The COVID-19 pandemic, which brought tourism in López Mateos to a near standstill, has given the community a sense of what life would be like without whales.

Fernando Rojas Rodriguez, 56, came here in 1990 in search of work. The whale business helped him put his four children through school. Now he worries—about the future of tourism during a global pandemic and about the health of the whales.

¡THANKS!

Able: If you are able to do something, you can do it. Alongside: next to someone or something Amphipods: a small crustacean that is similar in appearance to a shrimp but has no shell. Appear: To begin to exist or be known or used for the first time. Atop: on top of or at the top of something Binge: Noun: a period of excessive indulgence in an activity, especially eating, drinking, or taking drugs. Verb: indulge in an activity, especially eating, drinking, or taking drugs, to excess. Blubber: to cry in a noisy way like a child Blustery: with strong winds Bob: make a quick short movement up and down. Bounce: to hit a surface and then move quickly away, or to make something do this

Glossary

Bibliography

LINTHICUM K. (APRIL 13, 2021). Why are so many gray whales dying in the Pacific? NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. Retrieved April 23, 2021 from: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/why-are-so-many-gray-whales-dying-in-the-pacific

Bow: to bend your head or body forward in order to show respect or to thank an audience Bring: to take someone or something with you when you go somewhere Calf: a young bovine animal, especially a domestic cow or bull in its first year. Calves: Therefore, during the simulation of our models, we take samples from individual calves according to the actual sampling dates. Caressed: A gentle loving touch or kiss Catch: to stop something that is moving through the air by getting it in your hands Conduct: Noun: the manner in which a person behaves, especially on a particular occasion or in a particular context. Verb: organize and carry out Crowded: very full of people Deemed: regard or consider in a specified way. Devised: To invent a plan, system, object, etc, usually using your intelligence or imagination. Die-off: If a group of plants, animals, or people dies off, all of that group dies over a period of time. Dock: the place where ships stop, and goods are taken off or put on Dozen: A group or collection of twelve. Dusty: covered with dust Dying: Very ill and likely to die soon. Early: near the beginning of a period, a process, etc.

Glossary

Eastern: in or from the east part of an area Egrets: a large white bird with long legs that is a type of heron Encounters: A meeting, especially one that happens by chance. Engine.: a machine with moving parts that converts power into motion Estuary: The wide part of a river at the place where it joins the sea. Foreign: from a country that is not yours Gestures: a movement you make with your hand, arm, or head to show what you are thinking or feeling Gliding: the sport or activity of flying in a glider. Hammerhead: A shark of tropical and temperate oceans that has flattened blade-like extensions on either side of the head, with the eyes and nostrils placed at or near the ends. Hunted: to chase and kill wild animals Hunts: To chase and try to catch and kill an animal or bird for food, sport, or profit. Itself: Used when the subject of the verb is "it" and the object is the same thing, animal, situation, or idea. Jagged: Rough and with sharp points. Lagoon: an area of sea water separated from the sea by a reef (= a line of rocks and sand) Leaner: (of a person or animal) thin, especially healthily so; having no superfluous fat. Length: the measurement or extent of something from end to end; the greater of two or the greatest of three dimensions of a body.

Glossary

Malnourished: Weak and in bad health because of having too little food or too little of the types of food necessary for good health. Mangrove: A tropical tree, found near water, whose twisted roots grow partly above ground. Marshy: Ground near a lake, a river, or the sea that often floods and is always wet. Nearly: Almost, or not completely. Nudges: To push something or someone gently, especially to push someone with your elbow (the middle part of your arm where it bends) to attract the person's attention. Ominous: Suggesting that something unpleasant is likely to happen. Osprey: a large bird of prey that eats fish Outline: The main shape or edge of something, without any details. Peel off: remove a thin outer covering or layer. Plummeted: To fall very quickly and suddenly. Probe: To try to discover information that other people do not want you to know, by asking questions carefully and not directly. Prodding: to push something or someone with your finger or with a pointed object Rely: to need or depend on Safety: a state of being safe from harm or danger Seeking: to try to find or get something Sentinels: A person employed to guard something. Shallow: an area of the sea, a lake, or a river where the water is not very deep.

Glossary

Shrimp: a small free-swimming crustacean with an elongated body, typically marine and frequently harvested for food. Shrinking: becoming smaller in size or amount. Skinnier: Very thin. Slink: to walk away from somewhere quietly so that you are not noticed Smooth: give (something) a flat, regular surface or appearance by running one's hand over it. Spend: to use money to buy or pay for something Spies: A person who secretly collects and reports information about the activities of another country or organization. Standstill: a situation or condition in which there is no movement or activity at all. Starry: Lit by stars or shining like a star. Starvation: the state of having no food for a long period, often causing death. Steers: To control the direction of a vehicle. Stock: all the things that you can buy in a shop Stranding: leave (someone) without the means to move from somewhere. String: very thin rope used for tying things Struggle: To experience difficulty and make a very great effort in order to do something.Tail: A part of an animal's body, sticking out from the base of the back, or something similar in shape or position. Tapered: Becoming gradually narrower at one end.

Glossary

Thick: something that is thick is larger than usual between its opposite sides. Through: from one end or side of something to the other Thrusts: To push suddenly and strongly. Triggered: experiencing a strong emotional reaction of fear, shock, anger, or worry, especially because you are made to remember something bad that has happened in the past. Veered: change direction suddenly. Veering: suddenly change an opinion, subject, type of behavior, etc. Vessel: a ship or large boat Villages: a place where people live in the countryside that is smaller than a town Way: how you do something Whales: A very large sea mammal that breathes air through a hole at the top of its head. Whaling: the practice or industry of hunting and killing whales for their oil, meat, or whalebone. Widespread: Existing or happening in many places and/or among many people.

Glossary