• Whale watch week offers people the chance to see migrating gray whales up close from the Oregon Coast
• Gray whales are rebounding after hitting historic lows a few years ago.

Spring Whale Watching Week on the Oregon Coast offers one of the best chances to not only see one of nature’s most majestic animals, but to see them a bit closer.

Gray whales make two annual migrations — one southbound to Baja in winter and another northbound to Alaska in spring.

Not only is the weather nicer in the spring, but the sights of the whales and the company they’re traveling with is also more interesting, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Ranger Peter McBride said.

“Gray whales are usually closer to shore on their return trip, typically around a mile or so out, and they might have calves in tow,” McBride said.

Spring Whale Watching Week is March 22-30 this year. There will be rangers at 14 sites along the Oregon Coast to help visitors spot whales and their calves and answer questions from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily.

The Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 22-30. Visitors to the center can enjoy interactive whale exhibits and take in the panoramic ocean views. Binoculars are provided. Rangers from Oregon State Parks will also be on hand to answer questions about the whales.

Whale numbers still rebounding after multiyear decline, calf numbers near historic lows

The gray whales that swim past the Oregon Coast are still rebounding from what scientists called an Unusual Mortality Event that saw their numbers drop to a historic low of 14,500 in 2022-23.

The good news is that adult gray whale numbers jumped to an estimated 19,260 in 2023-24, the most recent count, a 33% increase. However, not all the news is good.

“The number of gray whale calves migrating with their mothers along the California Coast this year was one of the lowest on record,” NOAA fisheries said in a news release.

A team from NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Science Center found that this year’s count of 221 mother-calf pairs was close to the record low reported in 2022.

Most of the gray whale population feeds in the Bering and Chukchi seas off Alaska during the summer and gray whale calf production has been tied to ice cover and food availability in the region, NOAA said. Females must find enough food there to successfully produce and sustain calves.

“While we are no longer seeing the high number of gray whale strandings that the population experienced during the Unusual Mortality Event, calf production has remained low — likely reflecting that some females have yet to regain the energetic resources needed to sustain pregnancy and lactation,” said Aimée Lang, lead author of the new NOAA Fisheries Technical Memorandum reporting the annual calf count.

Researchers have seen other declines in calf production including during an Unusual Mortality Event that ran from 1999 to 2000. Estimated calf production remained low in 2001 and then gradually rose in following years.

Although visitors to the Oregon Coast might not see as many calves this year, the hope is that in coming years they’ll start to tick up with the rest of the adult population.