30 dead large whales have been found since May 2015, along the Western Gulf of Alaska and southern shoreline of the Alaska Peninsula. Simultaneous increase in the number of large whale strandings in British Columbia, Canada, got the scientists on both ends to start an active investigation. The "Unusual Mortality Event" (UME) for large whales has been declared for the first time on Alaska.
An unusually high number of large whale deaths has been reported across the Western Gulf of Alaska, in the regions around Kodiak Island, Afognak Island, Chirikof Island and the Semidi Islands, and along the southern shoreline of the Alaska Peninsula. 11 fin whales, 14 humpback whales, one gray whale and four unidentified whale species have been found dead in the Western Gulf of Alaska.
