21 gray whales have washed up on WA shores this year

BAY CENTER, Wash. - The 21st dead gray whale to be discovered along the Washington coast in 2026 was recorded along the shores of Willapa Bay.

A beached whale on the shores of Willapa Bay marks the 21st whale stranding in Washington of this year. (FOX 13 Seattle)

The whale was located in the Bay Center area on May 15. It was the third straight day of a dead gray whale sighting, as one washed ashore on Whidbey Island on May 13 and another was found in Moclips a day later.

The most recent beached whale is still pending examination. FOX 13 cameras captured initials etched on the whale's carcass on Monday, where it remains visible on the beach.

Initials carved into a beached whale in Bay Center, Washington. (FOX 13 Seattle)

It's the latest in a historic marine mammal die-off, as the volume of gray whale strandings is concerningly high across Washington state this year.

"We’ve had these elevated gray whale mortalities now for a number of years," said John Calambokidis, senior research biologist at Cascadia Research Collective. "One of the characteristics has been lots of very malnourished whales, and it really cuts to what we think is at the heart of a crisis the gray whale population is facing."

The leading cause of the gray whale deaths appears to be starvation. Whale strandings typically occur during the months of April, May and June.

Dead gray whales plague Washington coast

As starving gray whales continue to wash ashore dead along the Washington coast, Ocean Shores city crews are forced to use excavators to drag the massive remains above the tide line and bury them beneath the sand.

For a full list of whale strandings in Washington state, visit the Cascadia Research Collective website.

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