Refine Results
Region
News Category
Topic
Species Category

News & Announcements

News

36 items match your filter criteria.

Eastern North Pacific Gray Whales Continue Decline After Downturn During Unusual Mortality Event

Continued low calf count indicates that reproduction remains depressed.
June 18, 2025 - Feature Story ,
West Coast
Aerial view of gray whale mother and calf Gray whale mother and calf on northbound migration. Credit: NOAA Fisheries

Trained Team Releases Gray Whale Entangled in Gillnet off California’s Palos Verdes Peninsula

Team worked for about 2 hours to remove gear entangling whale.
April 16, 2025 - Feature Story ,
West Coast
Responders aboard an inflatable boat trailing and entangled whale Responders approach the entangled whale off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, using a long pole with specialized blade to reach and sever the net and lines entangling the whale. Photo by Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles, under NOAA Fisheries Permit #24359.

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Makah Whale Hunt Permit Application

Hunt permit application outlines tribal request to hunt gray whales in summer 2025 and 2027.
March 18, 2025 - Feature Story ,
West Coast
Makah Tribe in hand-carved canoes The Makah Tribe long hunted whales in hand-carved canoes, such as this one landing at Neah Bay on the Olympic Peninsula about 1900. They voluntarily stopped hunting gray whales in 1928 as commercial whaling depleted the species, which has since recovered in the eastern Pacific. Photo courtesy Museum of History and Industry, Negative Number 88.33.122.

Gray Whales on the Rebound: Signs of Hope Despite Challenges

North Pacific gray whale population increases after declines.
February 13, 2025 - Podcast ,
West Coast
A gray whale and her calft migrate north along the California coast A gray whale and her calf migrate north along the California coast on their way to summer feeding grounds in the Arctic. Scientists are using an unmanned aerial vehicle to produce very precise overhead images of gray whales, then analyzing the images to understand how environmental conditions affect the health of adult females and ultimately the reproductive success of the population. Credit: NOAA

Gray Whale Calf Count Remains Low in 2024 as Population Slowly Emerges from Multi-Year Decline

Even as total gray whale numbers rebound, reproduction lags.
October 31, 2024 - Feature Story ,
West Coast
Photo of two marine mammal observers looking for mother-calf gray whales at Piedras Blancas using binoculars. Marine mammal observers, LTJG Jesse Pierce (left) and Dawn Breese (right), surveying for mother-calf gray whale pairs. All marine mammals sighted are recorded.

2020 and 2021 Combined Report of Marine Mammal Strandings in the United States

This report details marine mammal stranding rates, trends, and activities in the United States for both 2020 and 2021. In 2020, there were 5,400 confirmed marine mammal strandings; in 2021, there were 5,524.
April 03, 2024 - Feature Story ,
Alaska
New England/Mid-Atlantic
Pacific Islands
Southeast
West Coast
National
Two stranding responders carry a stranded harbor porpoise away from some rocks A harbor porpoise is retrieved from the rocks at Odiorne Point State Park, New Hampshire. Credit: Seacoast Science Center

Spring News Roundup

A roundup of recent headlines from around the agency—hear about new Hawaiian monk seal pups, environmental DNA, new fish species, killer whale diversity, and more.
March 29, 2024 - Podcast ,
National
A black and white Southern Resident killer whale leaping out of the water. The fin of another whale is visible and a boat and mountains are in the background. A Southern Resident killer whale leaps out of the water. Credit: Candace Emmons

Gray Whale Stranded on La Jolla Shores Beach

The whale was in poor body condition but showed no signs of human impact.
February 27, 2024 - Feature Story ,
West Coast
A gray whale lies on a beach parallel to the shore. There are tire tracks near its head. It has barnacles on its skin and its baleen is visible. Stranded gray whale on a beach in La Jolla. Photo Credit: Lonnie Stephens, San Diego Fire-Rescue

Public Input Helps Improve our Understanding of Marine Ecological Relationships in Alaska

Critical links identified between young pollock survival and changes in habitat and prey availability over a 60-year timeframe.
February 13, 2024 - Feature Story ,
Alaska
food web for Bering Sea fish and other species, graphic showing connections between species This is a path diagram for the Bering Sea and Aleutians Islands marine ecosystem. It shows linkages between ecosystem variables. Arrows correspond to suspected relationships. An arrow pointing from X to Y indicates that a change in X is estimated to cause a change in Y. The number next to each arrow shows the estimated magnitude of the change (red arrows indicate a negative change and blue arrows indicate a positive change).

Whale Week: Celebrating the Wonder of Whales

Celebrate Whale Week 2024 with us! Discover NOAA's work to study, recover, and conserve these magnificent marine mammals.
February 12, 2024 - Feature Story ,
National
Graphic for Whale Week featuring illustrations of long-finned pilot whale, sperm whale, beluga whale, and North Atlantic right whale