Scientists Rally for Gray Whales
By Mark J. Palmer
On August 1st, 2025, Dr. Richard Steiner, a longtime marine mammal researcher, now retired from the University of Alaska, filed a formal proposal to the US National Marine Fisheries Service to put the gray whale back on the US Endangered Species list.
The gray whale population has continued to decline precipitously in recent years. (See the Scientists’ letter below for more details.)
The species was listed on the official US Endangered Species list from the beginning, and attempts to protect it began in the 1920s. Fortunately, under the protection of the governments of Mexico, the US, and Canada, the gray whale made a spectacular comeback from near extinction. Gray whales were delisted in 1994 to widespread acclaim – the Endangered Species Act had protected and recovered the gray whale.
But likely habitat changes due to global warming in the Arctic feeding grounds have reduced the main food of the gray whale, and the population is severely stressed from a lack of food. Ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are also hazards for gray whales and other marine species.
The International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute approached marine scientists to sign onto a letter of support for relisting the gray whale. Here is the letter:
October 31, 2025
Mr. Neil Jacobs , NOAA Administrator
1401 Constitution Ave. NW
Room 5128
Washington, DC 20230
Dr. Francis Gulland, Chair
US Marine Mammal Commission
4340 East-West Highway, Suite 700
Silver Spring, MD 20814
Dear Dr. Grimm and Dr. Gulland:
We are marine mammal scientists who are deeply concerned about the recent decline in numbers of the Eastern Pacific population of the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus).
We wish to express our support for the listing petition for the gray whale filed by our Alaska colleague, Prof. Rick Steiner and Oasis Earth on August 1st, 2025, with your office. A copy of the petition is attached. We feel the petition presents substantial scientific information necessary to justify the petitioned action (listing), and urge the agency to expeditiously proceed with the process.
We concur with the need to re-list the gray whale on the federal endangered species list, which would open up additional federal protections and resources to address the precipitous decline of the species over the past decade.
We urge your office to move forward with a comprehensive Status Review of the species, incorporating the agency’s own recent research, which documents that the species declined from an estimated population of 27,000 during 2015-16 to only 13,000 animals in 2024-25. In addition, production of calves in the Baja lagoons has declined dramatically. The future of the species is clearly in doubt, and thus, we feel the species urgently needs ESA protection.
Thank you for your consideration of our views.
Signed,
(Affiliations Listed for Identification Purposes Only.)
Dr. Giovanni Bearzi, PhD
President, Dolphin Biology and Conservation (Italy)
Pew Marine Conservation Fellow
Dr. Maddalena Bearzi, PhD
President, Ocean Conservation Society
Francesca Bertone, Executive Director
Nature of Hope
Eileen Campbell
Science Writer, Exploratorium
Dr. Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, PhD
Founder and Honorary President
Tethys Research Institute
Dr. David Duffus, Phd
Whale Research Lab
Victoria BC
Dr. Lauren Eckert, PhD
University of British Columbia
Alaska Whale Foundation
Melissa L. Edmonds
Scientist, Marine Biology
Animal Welfare Institute
Dr. Toni Frohoff, PhD
TerraMar Research
Dr. Deborah Giles, PhD
The SeaDoc Society
Jayden Harman, CEO
PAX Scientific, Inc.
Dr. Michael Herz, PhD
S.F. Baykeeper Emeritus
Past Chair, Friends of the Earth
Dr. Patrick R. Hof, MD, FAAA
Nash Family Department of Neuroscience
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Erich Hoyt, O.B.E.
Member, IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group
Co-chair, IUCN SSC-WCPA Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force
Nora Ives
Marine Scientist
Oceana
Allison Lui
Stranding Coordinator | Research Associate
Marine Mammal Stranding Program
Cal Poly Humboldt
Dr. Lori Marino, PhD
President
Whale Sanctuary Project
Liah McPherson
Graduate Research Fellow
Alaska Whale Foundation
Dr. Juan Pablo Torres-Florez, PhD
Science Coordinator
Sea Shepherd Brazil
Fabian Ritter
Vice President
Director of Research
M.E.E.R. e.V.
Dr. Bárbara Galletti Vernazzani VM
President and scientific director
Centro de Conservación Cetacea, Chile
Research Associate, Chile, Pacific Whale Foundation
Charles Vinick
Chief Executive Officer
Whale Sanctuary Project
Dr. Ingrid Visser, PhD
Orca Research Trust
Whale-Rescue.org
Lindy Weilgart, Ph.D.
Senior Ocean Noise Expert and Policy Consultant
OceanCare
Dr. Michael Weiss, PhD
Research Director
Center for Whale Research
