NOAA Fisheries is declaring an unusual spike in strandings of gray whales along the West Coast an Unusual Mortality Event, providing additional resources to respond to the strandings and triggering a focused scientific investigation into the cause.
The Unusual Mortality Event involving eastern North Pacific gray whales along the West Coast of North America occurred from December 17, 2018 to November 9, 2023, with peak strandings occurring between December 17, 2018, and December 31, 2020. NOAA…
Since July 2018, elevated numbers of harbor seal and gray seal mortalities have occurred across Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. This event has been declared an unusual mortality event (UME).
The Unusual Mortality Event involving bottlenose dolphins in southwest Florida that began in July 2018 is over. Strandings occurred in Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough, and Pinellas counties.
When there is a large die-off of marine mammals, experts from NOAA Fisheries and our partners try to identify the reasons for what's known as an Unusual Mortality Event, or UME. Unfortunately, in about half of UMEs, a cause is never determined.
