Pacific gray whales facing ‘catastrophic’ die-off as climate crisis hits food supply

Trump administration urged to relist a species in ‘very, very serious trouble’ under Endangered Species Act Climate change is driving a gray whale “catastrophic mortality event” in the Pacific Ocean as melting sea ice depletes food sources and the animals starve, environmental groups warn . Meanwhile, a range of other issues, like ship strikes, oil spills, microplastic pollution, algal blooms and Russian harvesting are also probably contributing to the die-off that has nearly halved the whales’ estimated population.

It fell from 20,000 in 2019 to fewer than 13,000 this year, and the deaths appear to be accelerating. Continue reading...