Overview
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada confirmed four carcasses found in April off Vancouver Island, bringing this year’s B.C. total to five, with three necropsies conducted alongside Huu‑ay‑aht, Kyuquot/Cheklesaht and W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations.
- Two of the four were described as extremely emaciated, and one necropsy near Sidney found a heavy whale‑lice infestation as lab work proceeds to confirm causes and rule out disease.
- Teams reported many live grey whales off Barkley Sound in poor shape, with protruding shoulder blades, which signals they left winter breeding lagoons in Mexico with little reserve and struggled to refuel.
- Researchers point to reduced benthic prey on Arctic and sub‑Arctic feeding grounds, tied to earlier ice melt and warmer water that lowers amphipod abundance, with calf counts falling to a record‑low 84 last season.
- The B.C. cases mirror a wider West Coast die‑off, with at least a dozen reported in Washington and eight in the San Francisco Bay Area, as experts warn more deaths are likely through the June migration and note the population has dropped about 50% since 2016.