Gray whale washes ashore in Ventura County

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A California gray whale that washed ashore on Sea Cliff Beach near the Ventura County line on Sunday afternoon has been dead for several weeks, marine officials said.
An initial examination revealed it to be an adult female about 45 feet in length, but due to the length of time the carcass spent in the water — between two and three weeks — scientists could not determine how it died.

“[The cause of death] cannot be determined as the state of decomposition is too far along to collect the necessary tissue samples,” Easter Moorman, spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, said in a press advisory.
Moorman said it is normal to spot gray whales in the Santa Barbara Channel this time of the year, as they are currently migrating through the area.
The deaths and subsequent beach strandings of at least three blue whales in local waters grabbed headlines last fall.
After initially suspecting domoic acid poisoning, officials later said those deaths likely resulted from the whales feeding on an abundant supply of krill in cargo shipping lanes. Several thousand container ships use the channel each year and ship strikes have been implicated in multiple whale deaths since 1980.
Moorman urged the public to contact the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the point coordinator for stranded marine mammals in the region, if they spot a dead beached whale or other marine mammal by calling 682-4711, ext. 157.
For beached marine mammals that are still alive, Moorman recommended contacting the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center at 687-3255 or the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute at 567-1505.
“Do not approach, touch or move the animal,” she said. “Stranded marine mammals are wild animals; they do bite and may carry diseases.”