Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is concerned after four grey whales have been found dead around Vancouver Island this month.
“Two of those four dead grey whales were extremely emaciated. Never seen such poor body condition,” said Paul Cottrell, DFO marine mammal co-ordinator for the Pacific region. One of those starved whales was found near Sidney, B.C. where it was infested with whale lice, which are typically found on whales and not usually harmful. “When the body condition gets really poor (the lice) actually can eat the animal alive and it was quite disturbing to see the poor shape of this animal.”
Two of the whales were found near Barkley Sound, one was further north near Kyuquot and the fourth was near Sidney. Three of the dead whales were males and one was female, which is a pattern that’s been noted in neighbouring areas like Washington State who Cottrell said has seen 15 deaths in the last few weeks.
“The underlying kind of consistent thing we’re seeing is very skinny animals, with certain animals that are just really a bag of bones,” he said.
Cottrell said the whales spend winters in Mexico before travelling north of Alaska to feeding grounds in spring and then return to breeding and calving lagoons in the south after summer, where they don’t typically feed. He said researchers believe last year was a very poor season for feeding.
Marine mammal technician Wendy Szaniszlo said right now the whales are migrating up from their breeding grounds and heading towards the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea.
“The changing food abundance in the Arctic and sub-Arctic feeding grounds is contributing to the malnutrition, lowered breeding rates as well as the mortalities we’re seeing,” she explained. “Last breeding season down in the Baja Lagoon, it was found that there were only 84 calves that were born. And that has been the lowest on record to date.”
That declining birth rate and the malnutrition are concerning. The malnutrition among mothers affects their ability to carry calves to term and to care for them after they’ve been born, she said.
“If you’re not getting that birth rate in calves being born, the population can’t increase,” Cottrell added. “If you’re getting increased mortality the population’s going to decline even more rapidly.”
In 2016 the estimate of grey whale population was 28,000 which dropped to 14,000 by 2023, there was a small rebound in 2024 but the population has been decreasing again in 2025 and now in 2026.
Szaniszlo said DFO has been using drones to track whales’ body condition over time and they are seeing poor body conditions worsened year over year.
She said she’d like to see more research into grey whale food sources not only in the northern feeding grounds but also in B.C. where she said 250 grey whales have been known to feed for many years.
“Because they’re feeding along here it means that we have some food in B.C. that’s important to them in our habitat,” she said. “Quite a bit of work has been done particularly in Clayoquot Sound in the past for many years on grey whale foraging ecology but very little is known about grey whale habitat and what they’re feeding on in central to northern B.C.”
The experts noted in the past grey whale populations have fluctuated and they’re hoping that’s the case this spring.
The DFO noted First Nations have been supporting the necropsies and, in the case of the whales reported that were floating in the water, locating the deceased animals.
“We’re hoping it’s just a blip but the indications are that we’re likely going to see more mortalities,” Cottrell said.
The official causes of death can’t be confirmed until the necropsy reports are completed. At least one of the whales found in Barkley Sound was seen with fishing gear including ropes and floats.
The department encourages everyone to report occurrences of whales being harassed or disturbed and instances of collisions with whales or whale entanglements by calling DFO’s Observe, Record, Report hotline at 1-800-465-4336 or by email at DFO.ORR-ONS.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.
People can see the current regulations around marine mammal interactions at the DFO website.