--- title: NOAA Announces Investigation Into Unexplained Whale Deaths | TIME description: NOAA has classified the deaths of 30 individual whales an “unusual mortality event.” Scientists say toxic algae could be to blame. canonical: https://time.com/video/TqYrGmhv/ og:title: NOAA Announces Investigation Into Unexplained Whale Deaths og:description: NOAA has classified the deaths of 30 individual whales an “unusual mortality event.” Scientists say toxic algae could be to blame. og:url: https://time.com/video/TqYrGmhv/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/TqYrGmhv/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NOAA Announces Investigation Into Unexplained Whale Deaths twitter:description: NOAA has classified the deaths of 30 individual whales an “unusual mortality event.” Scientists say toxic algae could be to blame. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/TqYrGmhv/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # NOAA Announces Investigation Into Unexplained Whale Deaths > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: NOAA Announces Investigation Into Unexplained Whale Deaths [Watch (HLS stream): NOAA Announces Investigation Into Unexplained Whale Deaths](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/TqYrGmhv.m3u8) (1:14)  _Published 2015-08-23. NOAA has classified the deaths of 30 individual whales an “unusual mortality event.” Scientists say toxic algae could be to blame._ --- Jul 27, 2023 6:42 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Scientists Think They May Have Found a New Kind of Killer Whale](/video/2x9I2ur9/) ### Scientists Think They May Have Found a New Kind of Killer Whale [NOAA: Squid Walvisteuthis youngorum](/video/WE6OSFtj/) ### NOAA: Squid Walvisteuthis youngorum [noaa-squid](/video/GYvy1Nki/) ### noaa-squid --- ## Transcript Whales in Alaska are dying at an alarmingly odd rate. Thirty individuals have washed up on Alaskan beaches in recent months. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has opened an official investigation and classified the deaths as an unusual mortality event. Involving unexpected stranding and significant die- off. 14 humpbacks, 11 fin whales, one grey whale and four unidentified whales have died, which NOAA says is three times the annual average rate. What's worse is scientists don't know why. In the case of the fin whales, one of the scientists said, part of the mystery is why just fin whales? Why not their prey? Why are there not other consumers in the system showing up in mass die- off mode? A spokesperson for NOAA told The Guardian at this point, it looks like the recent and harmful algal bloom could be to blame. But there's still not enough evidence to support that yet. This year's bloom of toxic algae is the worst in more than a decade, according to NOAA scientists. They suspect it could be linked to unusually warm temperatures in the northern Pacific Ocean. In the case of the whales, NOAA will post data from investigation to its unusual mortality event website once it becomes available. A full inquiry could take months or years of analysis. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"NOAA Announces Investigation Into Unexplained Whale Deaths","description":"NOAA has classified the deaths of 30 individual whales an “unusual mortality event.” Scientists say toxic algae could be to blame.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/TqYrGmhv/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-08-23T18:39:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/TqYrGmhv.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/TqYrGmhv/","duration":"PT1M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/TqYrGmhv/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```