"Protected on One Side of the Border, Hunted on the Other"

"The status of some coastal grey whales differs in Canada and the US, leading to a brewing conflict."

"For almost five decades, biologist Jim Darling has studied the grey whales that regularly return to forage in the waters off the west coast of Canada instead of completing the lengthy migration undertaken by the main herd.

Approximately 27,000 eastern North Pacific grey whales make a monumental annual trek from breeding and calving lagoons along Mexico’s Baja California peninsula to summer feeding grounds in the Bering, Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The northward migration lasts from February until May. Then, in October, the whales, led by pregnant females, leave the Arctic feeding grounds and again travel up to 11,000 kilometres to return to the warm lagoons of Baja.

However, about 250 animals opt to skip the full migration and spend from spring until fall feeding along the coast from northern California to southeast Alaska."

Judith Lavoie reports for Hakai magazine June 11, 2020.

Source: The Tyee, 06/17/2020