Dead Gray Whale Found Near Golden Gate Bridge, Ship Strike Suspected

A 42-foot adult female gray whale found floating near the Golden Gate Bridge last Tuesday died from injuries consistent with a vessel strike, the Marine Mammal Center announced after a Wednesday necropsy at Angel Island State Park — the first confirmed whale death in the Bay Area in 2026.

The U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers first reported the carcass around 9 a.m. on March 17, drifting in the waters just below the bridge. The Marine Mammal Center's Cetacean Conservation Biology Team was on the water the same day, collecting initial skin and tissue samples from a research vessel. By Tuesday afternoon, the Army Corps had towed the whale to Sand Springs Beach at Angel Island State Park, with permission from California State Parks, where scientists from the Marine Mammal Center and the California Academy of Sciences prepared for a joint necropsy.

That examination, completed Wednesday, found the whale was in fair to normal body condition and had been feeding recently, making the suspected strike death more striking: this was not a starving or compromised animal. No specific vessel has been identified, and no maritime enforcement agency has publicly opened an investigation into the strike.

The death arrives as gray whale sightings in San Francisco Bay have climbed sharply this season. At least six whales had been observed in the bay as of that week, with sightings beginning January 21 and increasing through the prior weekend. Last year was exceptional by any measure: 36 individual gray whales entered the bay, with as many as 10 present at one time. But that abundance came with a grim toll. Of the 26 whale strandings reported across the Bay Area in 2025, 21 were gray whales, and nine of those deaths were classified as suspected or probable vessel strikes.

The broader population context is alarming. The Marine Mammal Center puts the current gray whale population at roughly 12,900, the lowest count since the 1970s. An unusual mortality event between 2019 and 2023 drove a more than 50% population decline from 2016 levels, a collapse scientists believe is worsened by shifting Arctic conditions. The center has said those changes may be forcing gray whales to "adapt to unprecedented environmental changes" as the species pushes north toward traditional Arctic feeding grounds, increasingly moving through some of the busiest shipping lanes on the West Coast.

Bay Area residents can report whale sightings through the Marine Mammal Center's website or its Whale Alert app.