Two gray whales washed up dead in the San Francisco Bay near Richmond over the past week, bringing the year’s total whale deaths to 22 in and around the bay, according to the Marine Mammal Center.
The whale strandings come just a few weeks after six whales washed up around the San Francisco Bay over a week span. That number has since been revised to five whales after two were determined to be the same whale, but four additional whales washed up in late May and early June, according to the Marine Mammal Center.
Whale beachings this year are outpacing the numbers of recent years, with the numbers higher than years that saw an influx due to an unusual mortality event, with gray whales dying in higher-than-usual numbers.
On Thursday, a subadult gray whale washed up at Point Isabel in Richmond, scientists said. The whale was towed to Angel Island, where scientists will conduct a necropsy to try to determine the cause of death, said Megan Ely, a communications specialist with the California Academy of Sciences.
On Friday, an adult female gray whale died east of the Golden Gate Bridge, scientists said. The second whale then floated to Point Isabel where it remained on Tuesday, Ely said.
Because the whale is in an advanced state of decomposition, no necropsy will be conducted, she added. The whale’s cause of death is undetermined.
Four additional whales were beached in the weeks after six whales were reported to have died in a week span. On May 29, a female gray whale washed up in South San Francisco Bay off the coast of San Leandro, according to the Marine Mammal Center. A male gray whale washed up at McNears Beach County Park in San Rafael the same day.
Scientists did not perform a necropsy on either animal and their causes of death remain undetermined.
On May 31, a male gray whale washed up at Montara State Beach. Another male gray whale washed up at Lands End in San Francisco June 7. No necropsies were performed and scientists do not know the whales’ causes of death.
Since the report of six whales washing up in a week in late May, scientists also determined that the whale that washed ashore at Alamere Falls May 28 was likely the same whale reported to be floating near Point Bonita May 26, according to the Marine Mammal Center’s updated list of whale strandings.
In early April, there was a similar influx of whale deaths when three gray whales and one minke whale died in the bay over a week and a half span.
In 2021, scientists responded to 15 whale strandings in and around San Francisco Bay. In 2019, they responded to 14. Those numbers were attributed to an unusual mortality event, which saw the deaths of 690 gray whales along the west coast between 2019 and 2023 due to ecosystem changes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In a normal year, between two and four whales strand in the San Francisco Bay.
A drone view of a dead gray whale washed up on shore near Point Isabel Regional Shoreline in Richmond, Calif., on Monday, June 16, 2025. Two gray whales were discovered dead along the shoreline just two days apart. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Of the 22 whales that have died around the Bay Area this year, 19 were gray whales, two were baleen whales and one was a juvenile minke whale, according to a press release from CalAcademy.
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Why did four whales wash up in San Francisco Bay in a week and a half?
Scientists are still studying why the whales are dying in such high numbers this year.
They have noted that whales have started swimming into San Francisco Bay in higher-than-usual numbers. This year, the Marine Mammal Center’s Cetacean Conservation Biology Team has identified 30 distinct gray whales swimming in the bay compared to just six in 2024, according to CalAcademy. About one-third of these whales remained in the bay for 20 days or longer. The body conditions of the whales ranged from good to emaciated.
While swimming in a body of water that has high vessel traffic, it is inevitable that some whales are struck, scientists said. Six of the whale deaths in San Francisco Bay this year have been due to probable or suspected vessel strikes, according to the Marine Mammal Center.
Gray whales are expected to be present in San Francisco Bay for two more weeks before they begin their migration north to the Arctic, CalAcademy said. CalAcademy and the Marine Mammal Center ask boaters to continue to be “whale aware.”
A dead gray whale is washed up on shore near Point Isabel Regional Shoreline in Richmond, Calif., on Monday, June 16, 2025. Two gray whales were discovered dead along the shoreline just two days apart. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
