A gray whale found deceased at Lands End in San Francisco this weekend has become the 18th recorded fatality in the Bay Area in 2025, highlighting a troubling pattern for marine life in Northern California waters.
Discovered Saturday, the male whale’s carcass was located down a steep cliffside, preventing the California Academy of Sciences from performing a necropsy to determine the cause of death. This latest stranding underscores an alarming year, with the Bay Area witnessing whale fatalities reminiscent of the NOAA-declared “unusual mortality event” that severely impacted populations along the West Coast between 2019 and 2023.
Of the 18 gray whale deaths reported so far this year, four have been attributed to probable vessel strikes. However, most cases remain unsolved, adding to concerns about threats facing marine mammals…