ABSTRACT
Between 1999 and 2000, the Pacific shorelines of North America and Mexico witnessed an unprecedented series of events. 651 eastern North Pacific grey whales were found stranded in what was considered an exceptional ‘unusual mortality event’ for this species. Long before whaling became a taboo associated with brutality and human rapacity of the natural world – as it did in the second half of the twentieth century – the species was afforded relatively early protection in the 1930s. Stranded whales are critically important for gaining knowledge about what is happening both to the species and the marine environment. DNA analysis of other species of whales – including the humpback whale and fin whale – has suggested that pre-whaling populations were higher than previous estimates, providing new awareness of the reduction in these animals’ ranges. This species is a ‘key ecological structuring agent’ in the waters.
