POINT REYES STATION, CALIFORNIA: A dead juvenile gray whale on Limantour Beach at Point Reyes … [+]
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In 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, described the gray whale population as “fully recovered” with an estimated population size of around 27,000 individuals. Troubling new population estimates tell a different story.
When the United States enacted the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, there were only about 10,000-15,000 eastern Pacific gray whales. That same year, the two remaining gray whale populations each received additional protections under the U.S.’s new Endangered Species Act. Under the Act, the eastern Pacific gray whale population was listed as ‘endangered’. About two decades later, thanks to the success of these and additional international protections, the eastern Pacific…
