New interactive map highlights diverse whale species in Oregon waters

While gray whales and killer whales are the most well known whales off the Oregon coast, the state boasts many other species of these majestic mammals.

That’s right. More than a dozen whale species live in Oregon’s coastal waters. But many of their populations have shrunk and may disappear if humans don’t do more to protect them.

new interactive map

by the

Environment Oregon Research & Policy Center

, a nonprofit focused on protecting the natural world, and research firm Frontier Group highlights all the species in the state, offering basic facts about the whales, their behavior and protection status. The map is based on the latest

whale stock assessments

by NOAA Fisheries, also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Some of Oregon’s less common whale species highlighted on the map: the minke whale, the short-finned pilot whale and the sei whale.

The two most common causes of death for all of the whales include entanglement in commercial fishing gear and vessel strikes. Climate change-fueled ocean conditions also threaten the species regardless of conservation status.

Even gray whales — Oregon’s most common species, whose population tops 25,000 individuals and is not endangered — have been facing difficulties in recent years. After a 2023 die-off, when

hundreds of gray whales washed up dead

and malnourished on West Coast beaches,

record-low numbers of gray whales

have been sighted undertaking their annual migration north this year due to changing food conditions in the Arctic.

The best times to go

whale watching in Oregon

are from March to June and from December to January. In the spring, gray whales travel north from their breeding grounds in Baja California and in the winter, they make their way south again.

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— Gosia Wozniacka covers environmental justice, climate change, the clean energy transition and other environmental issues. Reach her at gwozniacka@oregonian.com or 971-421-3154.

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