Overview

• A dead gray whale washed ashore at Black Sands Beach in Marin County on March 30, marking the first gray whale stranding in the Bay Area this year.
• The whale, a 36-foot female, appeared severely emaciated, though the exact cause of death remains undetermined pending further diagnostic tests.
• Recent sightings of gray whales in the San Francisco Bay have reached near-record levels, with up to nine whales observed in a single day last week.
• The Marine Mammal Center and California Academy of Sciences conducted a necropsy to investigate the whale's death, as climate change and food scarcity in the Arctic continue to threaten the species.
• Conservationists urge the public to report whale sightings via the Whale Alert app to help mitigate risks such as ship strikes during the whales' annual migration.