A new abundance estimate of the gray whale population that migrates along the West Coast suggests their numbers have increased since last year.
Researchers at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center estimate that the Eastern North Pacific gray whale population is between 15,930 to 20,530, or an average of about 17,750 gray whales. That is a jump from last year’s estimate—one of the lowest since counting began in the late 1960s—which numbered between 11,690 to 13,190, or about 12,890 whales.