Editing Gray whale (section)

===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>