Young Humpback Washes Ashore in 2nd Bay Area Whale Death of the Year

A young humpback that washed up on a Half Moon Bay beach over the weekend was the second dead whale to be found in Bay Area waters so far this year.

The cetacean was recovered Monday at Cowell Ranch State Beach, about 6 miles north of Eel Rock, where the dead whale was reportedly first seen rolling in the surf on May 28, according to Liz Lindqwister, a spokesperson for the California Academy of Sciences.

The rescuers from the California Academy of Sciences and the Marine Mammal Center weren’t able to conduct a necropsy due to the beach’s conditions, Lindqwister said. Using photos taken atop the beach’s bluffs, though, they determined that the whale, which measured between 25 and 30 feet in length, was likely not an adult.

While the cause of death is currently unknown, “Academy scientists and responders plan to continue monitoring this whale in the coming days,” Lindqwister told KQED via email.

It is hard to say how unusual this death is, she said. Young humpback deaths are not unheard of in the Bay Area — in the fall of 2022, two juvenile humpback whales washed up on the shores of Fort Bragg, farther north on the California coast, according to the Press Democrat. Earlier that year, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that another young humpback washed onto a Pacifica beach.

More humpback whales tend to hang around the California coast between April and November, returning from their winter mating spot off the Baja Coast to spend the summer resting and feeding.

In late April, a 40-foot gray whale was the first dead whale found in the Bay Area this year. The cetacean found off the coast of Robert W. Crown Memorial State Beach in Alameda was likely killed by blunt force trauma due to a vessel strike, according to a report from the California Academy of Sciences and the Marine Mammal Center.