Editing Gray whale (section)

==Populations==

===North Pacific===
[[Image:Eschrichtius robustus 01-cropped.jpg|thumb|Gray whale [[whale surfacing behaviour|breaching]]]]
[[Image:Spouting gray whale Yachats, OR (8008163164).jpg|thumb|Gray whale spouting along shores of [[Yachats, Oregon]]]]
Two Pacific Ocean populations are known to exist: one population that is very low, whose migratory route is presumed to be between the [[Sea of Okhotsk]] and southern [[Korea]], and a larger population numbering about 27,000 individuals in the eastern Pacific, traveling between the waters off northernmost [[Alaska]] and [[Baja California Sur]].<ref name="fisheries.noaa.gov">{{Cite web |last=Fisheries |first=NOAA |date=2023-04-13 |title=Gray Whale {{!}} NOAA Fisheries |url=https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/gray-whale |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=NOAA |language=en}}</ref> Mothers make this journey accompanied by their calves, usually hugging the shore in shallow kelp beds, and fight viciously to protect their young if they are attacked, earning gray whales the moniker "devil fish."<ref name=BANG/>

The western population has had a very slow growth rate despite heavy conservation action over the years, likely due to their very slow reproduction rate.<ref name="The Maritime Executive" /> The state of the population hit an all-time low in 2010, when no new reproductive females were recorded, resulting in a minimum of 26 reproductive females being observed since 1995.<ref name="iwcoffice.org">{{cite web|title=Report of the Scientific Committee, Tromsø, Norway, 30 May to 11 June 2011 Annex F: Sub-Committee on Bowhead, Right and Gray Whale |url=http://www.iwcoffice.org/_documents/sci_com/SCRepFiles2011/Annex%20F%20-%20BRG.pdf |work=IWC Office |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105190412/http://www.iwcoffice.org/_documents/sci_com/SCRepFiles2011/Annex%20F%20-%20BRG.pdf |archive-date=5 November 2011 }}</ref> Even a very small number of additional annual female deaths will cause the subpopulation to decline.<ref name="IUCN Western">{{cite iucn | author1 = Cooke, J.G. | author2 = Taylor, B.L. | author3 = Reeves, R. | author4 = Brownell Jr., R.L. | name-list-style = amp | title = ''Eschrichtius robustus'' (western subpopulation) | page = e.T8099A50345475 | year = 2018 | access-date = 2 June 2021}}</ref> However, as of 2018, evidence has indicated that the western population is markedly increasing in number, especially off [[Sakhalin|Sakhalin Island]]. Following this, the IUCN downlisted the population's conservation status from [[critically endangered]] to [[Endangered species|endangered]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://phys.org/news/2018-11-fin-whale-mountain-gorilla-populations.html|title=Fin whale, mountain gorilla populations rise amid conservation action|access-date=2018-11-25}}</ref><ref name="The Maritime Executive">{{Cite news|url=https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/whale-conservation-success-highlighted-in-iucn-red-list-update|title=Whale Conservation Success Highlighted in IUCN Red List Update|work=The Maritime Executive|access-date=2018-11-25|language=en}}</ref>

===North Atlantic===
The gray whale became extinct in the North Atlantic in the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite book|author= Rice DW |title=Marine Mammals of the World. Systematics and Distribution. Special Publication Number 4. |year= 1998 |publisher= The Society for Marine Mammalogy|location= Lawrence, Kansas }}</ref> They had been seasonal migrants to coastal waters of both sides of Atlantic, including the [[Baltic Sea]],<ref>Jones L.M..Swartz L.S.. Leatherwood S.. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GfGITi5NmJoC&dq=bothnia+whale&pg=PA41 The Gray Whale: Eschrichtius Robustus]. "Eastern Atlantic Specimens". pp 41–44. [[Academic Press]]. Retrieved on September 5, 2017</ref><ref>[[Global Biodiversity Information Facility]]. [https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1322462463 Occurrence Detail 1322462463]. Retrieved on September 21, 2017</ref> the [[Wadden Sea]], the [[Gulf of St. Lawrence]], the [[Bay of Fundy]], [[Pamlico Sound]] and possibly [[Hudson Bay]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fmap.ca/ramweb/media/biodiversity_loss/downloads/RegionalExtinctionExamples.pdf |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20110425162323/http://www.fmap.ca//ramweb/media/biodiversity_loss/downloads/RegionalExtinctionExamples.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-04-25 |title=Regional Species Extinctions – Examples of regional species extinctions over the last 1000 years and more |work=Census of Marine Life |access-date=2014-07-05 }}</ref><ref>[[Fisheries and Oceans Canada]].
 2016. [http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/profiles-profils/grey-whale-a-baleine-grise-a-eng.html Grey Whale (Atlantic population) Eschrichtius robustus]. Retrieved on August 15, 2017</ref>  Radiocarbon dating of subfossil or fossil European (Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom) coastal remains confirms this, with whaling the possible cause for the population's extinction.<ref name="Bryant" /> Remains dating from the Roman epoch were found in the [[Mediterranean]] during excavation of the antique harbor of [[Lattara]] near [[Montpellier]], France, in 1997, raising the question of whether Atlantic gray whales migrated up and down the coast of Europe from the Wadden Sea to calve in the Mediterranean.<ref>{{Cite journal|year= 2003 |title=Did the Gray Whale calve in the Mediterranean? |journal= Lattara|volume= 16|pages=153–164 |author = Macé M.|url=https://archive.org/details/DidTheGrayWhaleEschrichtiusRobustusCalveInTheMediterranean}}</ref><ref name=SpeciesMatters>The MORSE Project – [http://morse.cefe.cnrs.fr/?p=84. Ancient whale exploitation in the Mediterranean: species matters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220073138/http://morse.cefe.cnrs.fr/?p=84. |date=2016-12-20 }}</ref> A 2018 study utilizing ancient DNA barcoding and collagen peptide matrix fingerprinting confirmed that Roman era whale bones east of the [[Strait of Gibraltar]] were gray whales (and [[North Atlantic right whale]]s), confirming that gray whales once ranged into the Mediterranean.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Forgotten Mediterranean calving grounds of grey and North Atlantic right whales: evidence from Roman archaeological records |author=Ana S. L. Rodrigues |author2=Anne Charpentier |author3=Darío Bernal-Casasola |author4=Armelle Gardeisen |author5=Carlos Nores |author6=José Antonio Pis Millán |author7=Krista McGrath |author8=Camilla F. Speller |date=July 11, 2018 |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=285 |issue=1882 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2018.0961 |pmid=30051821 |pmc=6053924 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Similarly, radiocarbon dating of American east coastal subfossil remains confirm that gray whales existed there at least through the 17th century. This population ranged at least from [[Southampton (town), New York|Southampton, New York]], to [[Jupiter Island, Florida]], the latest from 1675.<ref name="sbjhnc"/> In his 1835 history of [[Nantucket Island]], Obed Macy wrote that in the early pre-1672 colony a whale of the kind called "scragg" entered the harbor and was pursued and killed by the settlers.<ref name="Macy O 1835">{{Cite book|author= Macy O|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101067881282;view=1up;seq=7 |title=The History of Nantucket:being a compendious account of the first settlement of the island by the English:together with the rise and progress of the whale fishery, and other historical facts relative to said island and its inhabitants:in two parts |year=1835 |publisher= Hilliard, Gray & Co. |location= Boston |isbn=1-4374-0223-2 }}</ref> A. B. Van Deinse points out that the "scrag whale", described by P. Dudley in 1725 as one of the species hunted by the early New England whalers, was almost certainly the gray whale.<ref name="Van Deinse 1937 161–188">{{Cite journal|last= Van Deinse |first= AB |year= 1937 |title=Recent and older finds of the gray whale in the Atlantic |journal= Temminckia |volume= 2 |pages=161–188 }}</ref><ref name="Dudley 1725 256–259">{{Cite journal|last= Dudley |first= P |year= 1725 |title=An essay upon the natural history of whales |journal= Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society |volume=33 |pages=256–259 |url=https://archive.org/details/philtrans04271050|jstor=103782|doi= 10.1098/rstl.1724.0053|issue= 381–391 |bibcode= 1724RSPT...33..256D|s2cid= 186208376 }}</ref>

Since the 2010s, there have been occasional sightings of gray whales in the Atlantic Ocean and in the [[Mediterranean Sea]], including one off the coast of [[Israel]] and one off the coast of [[Namibia]].<ref name=wnyc>{{cite web|title=The Gray Whale Sneaks Back into the Atlantic, Two Centuries Later|author=Hamilton, Alex|url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/extinct-gray-whale-population-may-reappear-atlantic/|access-date=2019-10-28|date=October 8, 2015|publisher=WNYC}}</ref><ref name=discover>{{cite magazine|title=Why Are Gray Whales Moving to the Ocean Next Door?|author=Schiffman, Richard|date=February 25, 2016|access-date=2019-10-28|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2016/april/13-why-are-gray-whales-moving-to-the-ocean-next-door|magazine=Discover Magazine}}</ref>  These were presumably migrants from the North Pacific population through the [[Arctic Ocean]].<ref name=wnyc/><ref name=discover/>  A 2015 study of DNA from [[subfossil]] gray whales indicated that this may not be a historically unique event.<ref name=wnyc/><ref name=discover/><ref name=alter>{{cite journal|title=Climate impacts on transocean dispersal and habitat in gray whales from the Pleistocene to 2100 |author=Alter, S. Elizabeth |author2=Hofreiter, Michael|display-authors=etal|date=March 9, 2015|doi=10.1111/mec.13121|journal=Molecular Ecology|volume=24|issue=7|pages=1510–1522|pmid=25753251|bibcode=2015MolEc..24.1510A |s2cid=17313811|url=https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/43892}}</ref>  That study suggested that over the past 100,000 years there have been several migrations of gray whales between the Pacific and Atlantic, with the most recent large scale migration of this sort occurring about 5,000 years ago.<ref name=wnyc/><ref name=discover/><ref name=alter/>  These migrations corresponded to times of relatively high temperatures in the Arctic Ocean.<ref name=wnyc/><ref name=discover/><ref name=alter/> In 2021, one individual was seen in the port of [[Rabat]], [[Morocco]],<ref name=
SOS-D>SOS Dolfijn, 2021, [https://www.sosdolfijn.nl/nieuws/archief/grijze-walvis-gemeld-bij-marokko Grijze walvis gemeld bij Marokko]</ref> followed by sightings in [[Algeria]]<ref name=ObservationORG>Observation.org, [https://observation.org/observation/211419906/ 2021-04-04, Archive – Yasutaka Imai]</ref> and [[Italy]].<ref name=Italy24/> In March 2024, [[New England Aquarium]] researchers photographed a gray whale {{convert|30|mi|km}} south of [[Nantucket, Massachusetts]].<ref name="AP 2024-03-06">{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Gray whale sighted off New England 200 years after species' Atlantic extinction |website=The Guardian |date=2024-03-06 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/06/gray-whale-nantucket-extinction |access-date=2024-03-06}}</ref>

===Pre-whaling abundance===
Researchers<ref>{{Cite journal|last1= Alter |first1= SE |date=May 2012 |title=Pre-Whaling Genetic Diversity and Population Ecology in Eastern Pacific Gray Whales: Insights from Ancient DNA and Stable Isotopes |journal= PLOS ONE |volume= 7 |issue= 5 |pages= e35039 |last2= Newsome |first2= SD |last3= Palumbi |first3= SR |author-link3= Stephen Palumbi |doi= 10.1371/journal.pone.0035039 |pmid= 22590499 |pmc=3348926|bibcode= 2012PLoSO...735039A |doi-access= free }}</ref> used a genetic approach to estimate pre-whaling abundance based on samples from 42 gray whales, and reported DNA variability at 10 genetic loci consistent with a population size of 76,000–118,000 individuals, three to five times larger than the average census size as measured through 2007. The [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]] has collected surveys of gray whale population since at least the 1960s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alter |first1=S. E. |last2=Rynes |first2=E. |last3=Palumbi |first3=S. R. |title=DNA evidence for historic population size and past ecosystem impacts of gray whales |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=11 September 2007 |volume=104 |issue=38 |pages=15162–15167 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0706056104 |pmid=17848511 |pmc=1975855 |bibcode=2007PNAS..10415162A |doi-access=free }}</ref> They state that "the most recent population estimate [from 2007] was approximately 19,000 whales, with a high probability (88%) that the population is at 'optimum sustainable population' size, as defined by the [[Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972|Marine Mammal Protection Act]]." They speculate that the ocean ecosystem has likely changed since the pre-whaling era, making a return to pre-whaling numbers infeasible.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gray Whale Population Studies|url=http://swfsc.noaa.gov/textblock.aspx?Division=PRD&ParentMenuId=211&id=9036|publisher=NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Protected Resource Division|year=2010|access-date=2011-02-25}}</ref>  Factors limiting or threatening current population levels include ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, and changes in sea-ice coverage associated with climate change.<ref>{{cite web|title=Automatic Whale Detector|url=http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2015/02/gray_whale_survey_thermal_imaging.html|publisher=NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Protected Resource Division|year=2015|access-date=2016-01-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223203354/http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2015/02/gray_whale_survey_thermal_imaging.html|archive-date=2016-02-23|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Integration and recolonization===
[[File:Gray whale calf by Marc Webber USFWS.jpg|thumb|Calf with mouth open showing baleen, Alaska]]
Several whales seen off Sakhalin and on [[Kamchatka Peninsula]] have been confirmed to migrate towards eastern side of Pacific and join the larger eastern population. In January 2011, a gray whale that had been tagged in the western population was tracked as far east as the eastern population range off the coast of British Columbia.<ref>{{cite web|title=Western Pacific Gray Whale, Sakhalin Island 2010|date=February 2011|url=http://mmi.oregonstate.edu/Sakhalin2010|publisher=Oregon State University, Marine Mammal Institute|access-date=2011-02-25|archive-date=2013-03-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130325022649/http://mmi.oregonstate.edu/Sakhalin2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> Recent findings from either stranded or entangled specimens indicate that the original western population have become functionally extinct, and possibly all the whales that have appeared on Japanese and Chinese coasts in modern times are vagrants or re-colonizers from the eastern population.<ref name=SC65bBRG12>{{cite report|author=Kato H.|author2=Kishiro T.|author3=Nishiwaki S.|author4=Nakamura G.|author5=Bando T.|author6=Yasunaga G.|author7=Sakamoto T. |author8=Miyashita T.|year=2014| title=Status Report of Conservation and Researches on the Western North Pacific Gray Whales in Japan, May 2013 – April 2014 [document SC/65b/BRG12]|url=https://archive.iwc.int/pages/download.php?ref=4801&size=&ext=pdf&k=&alternative=-1&usage=-1&usagecomment=|access-date=2021-08-21}}</ref><ref name=2011insights />

In mid-1980, there were three gray whale sightings in the eastern [[Beaufort Sea]], placing them {{convert|585|km|mi|sp=us}} further east than their known range at the time.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Gray Whale (''Eschrichtius robustus'') Sightings in Eastern Beaufort Sea |doi=10.14430/arctic2521|author1=Rugh, David J.  |author2=Fraker, Mark A. |journal=Arctic |volume=34|issue=2|date=June 1981 |url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic34-2-186.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422023641/http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic34-2-186.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-22 |url-status=live |access-date=2010-07-15 }}</ref> Recent increases in sightings are confirmed in Arctic areas of the historic range for Atlantic stocks, most notably on several locations in the [[Laptev Sea]] including the [[New Siberian Islands]] in the [[East Siberian Sea]],<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Shpak V.O. |author2=Kuznetsova M.D. |author3=Rozhnov V.V. | year = 2013 | title = Observation of the Gray Whale (''Eschrichtius robustus'') in the Laptev Sea | journal = Biology Bulletin | volume = 40 | issue = 9 | pages = 797–800 | doi = 10.1134/S1062359013090100|bibcode=2013BioBu..40..797S |s2cid=18169458 }}</ref> and around the marine mammal sanctuary<ref>Nefedova T., Gavrilo M., Gorshkov S. (2013). [http://www.rgo.ru/ru/article/letom-v-arktike-stalo-menshe-lda Летом в Арктике стало меньше льда] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140524004126/http://www.rgo.ru/ru/article/letom-v-arktike-stalo-menshe-lda |date=2014-05-24 }}. Russian Geographical Society. retrieved on 24-05-2014</ref> of the [[Franz Josef Land]],<ref>Elwen H.S., Gridley T. (2013). [http://www.namibiandolphinproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Elwen-Gridley_Gray-whale-in-Namibia-20130610.pdf Gray whale (''Eschrichtius robustus'') sighting in Namibia (SE Atlantic) – first record for Southern Hemisphere]. Mammal Research Institute, the [[University of Pretoria]] and the Namibian Dolphin Project. retrieved on 18-05-2014</ref> indicating possible earlier pioneers of re-colonizations. These whales were darker in body color than those whales seen in Sea of Okhotsk.<ref name=Olga2011/> In May 2010, a gray whale was sighted off the Mediterranean shore of Israel.<ref>{{cite web |author=צפריר רינת 08.05.2010 16:47 עודכן ב: 16:50 |url=http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1167822.html |title=לווייתן אפור נצפה בפעם הראשונה מול חופי ישראל – מדע וסביבה – הארץ |publisher=Haaretz.co.il |access-date=2012-06-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100511063628/http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1167822.html |archive-date=2010-05-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It has been speculated that this whale crossed from the Pacific to the Atlantic via the [[Northwest Passage]], since an alternative route around [[Cape Horn]] would not be contiguous to the whale's established territory. There has been gradual melting and recession of Arctic sea ice with extreme loss in 2007 rendering the Northwest Passage "fully navigable".<ref name="esa">{{cite web
| url=http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMYTC13J6F_index_0.html
| title=Satellites witness lowest Arctic ice coverage in history|work=European Space Agency 
| access-date=2007-09-14}}</ref> The same whale was sighted again on May 30, 2010, off the coast of [[Barcelona]], Spain.<ref name="June Spotting">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8729000/8729064.stm|title=Mystery gray whale sighted again off Spain coast|last=Walker|first=Matt|date=30 May 2010|work=BBC News|access-date=8 June 2010}}</ref>

In May 2013, a gray whale was sighted off [[Walvis Bay]], Namibia. Scientists from the Namibian Dolphin Project confirmed the whale's identity and thus provides the only sighting of this species in the Southern Hemisphere. Photographic identification suggests that this is a different individual than the one spotted in the Mediterranean in 2010. As of July 2013, the Namibian whale was still being seen regularly.<ref>[http://namibiandolphinproject.blogspot.ch/2013/05/a-rare-and-mysterious-visitor-in-walvis.html Namibian Dolphin Project: A rare and mysterious visitor in Walvis Bay]. Namibiandolphinproject.blogspot.ch (2013-05-14). Retrieved on 2013-07-28.</ref>

In March 2021, a gray whale was sighted near [[Rabat]], the capital of [[Morocco]].<ref name=
SOS-D /> In April, additional sightings were made off [[Algeria]]<ref name=ObservationORG/> and [[Italy]].<ref name=Italy24>{{Cite web|url=https://www.italy24news.com/News/19045.html|title=Ponza, a gray whale sighted for the first time in Italy|date=April 15, 2021|website=Italy24 News English}}</ref>

In December 2023, a gray whale was sighted off [[Sunny Isles Beach, Florida]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/2023/12/21/gray-whale-florida-miami-migration-how-identify-unusual-fwc/71997055007/ |title=Gray whale spotted off Florida coast. Here's why the sighting is so unusual |date=2023-12-21 |newspaper=The Palm Beach Post |last1=McCloud |first1=Cheryl |last2=Crowley |first2=Kinsey |access-date=2023-12-21}}</ref>

Genetic analysis of fossil and prefossil gray whale remains in the Atlantic Ocean suggests several waves of dispersal from the Pacific to the Atlantic related to successive periods of climactic warming – during the [[Pleistocene]] before the last glacial period and the early [[Holocene]] immediately following the opening of the [[Bering Strait]]. This information and the recent sightings of Pacific gray whales in the Atlantic, suggest that another range expansion to the Atlantic may be starting.<ref name=Alter/>