{"id":251,"date":"2026-06-02T16:07:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T16:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=251"},"modified":"2026-06-02T16:07:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T16:07:32","slug":"glacier-bays-humpbacks-are-recovering-slowly-from-2014-16-marine-heatwave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=251","title":{"rendered":"Glacier Bay\u2019s humpbacks are recovering, slowly, from 2014-16 marine heatwave"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Spring is one of Christine Gabriele\u2019s favorite times of year. She spends her days in and around Glacier Bay National Park, watching as the area\u2019s humpback whales return after wintering overseas.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s like taking attendance and seeing your old friends,\u201d said Gabriele, who has been a whale biologist in the park for nearly four decades.<\/p>\n

This year, she\u2019ll be keeping her eye out for two whales in particular: A male that would be returning for his 53rd year and a female that was one of the first whales Gabriele learned to identify as a young scientist.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was missing last year,\u201d Gabriele said. \u201cI hope that she\u2019s not gone for good, because she\u2019s one of my favorites.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabriele is part of a small team charged with studying the humpback population in Glacier Bay and nearby Icy Strait. A major theme of their recent work has been studying how the whales are doing after a marine heatwave between 2014 and 2016 devastated marine environments up and down the west coast, including the Gulf of Alaska.<\/p>\n

By 2018, the area\u2019s humpback population had declined by more than 50%. Last summer, it was still 33% lower than before the heatwave struck the area, according to a published earlier this spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cLingering impacts from the [Pacific Marine Heatwave] suggest there will be reduced humpback whale population growth in the coming years, even if feeding conditions are favorable,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s due to a range of factors. Among them: None of the calves born in 2014 were ever seen again. And just one of 22 whales born between 2014 and 2018 is known to have survived. That means they won\u2019t go on to reproduce.<\/p>\n

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Another factor is the whales\u2019 rate of reproduction, which Gabriele said went \u201creally, really low\u201d after the heatwave. Before the event, one in three females had calves each year, on average. In the immediate aftermath, about one in 25 were having calves per year.<\/p>\n

Things have improved since then but still aren\u2019t back to where they were. On average, about one in 12 females are now giving birth each year.<\/p>\n

While female whales used to have their first calves at around age 11 or 12, more seem to be waiting until age 15, 16 or 17. On top of that, they\u2019re waiting eight or nine years between calves instead of two or three.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the things that are causing the population to grow slowly,\u201d Gabriele said.<\/p>\n

Underlying all of those factors is that the marine environment is changing. The whales seem to have a less reliable food supply, which could explain why reproduction is happening less often.<\/p>\n

Answers about the status and trajectory of that food supply could be coming. The Park Service is working on monitoring the forage fish population \u2014 small, energy-rich fish, like herring and capelin. Gabriele said the research will provide invaluable insight into the food supply, which affects seabirds, bears, whales and, of course, Alaskans.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally it\u2019s just one jump away from the salmon on my dinner plate to the krill and the fish that the whales are eating,\u201d Gabriele said. \u201cWhen the whales are doing well, we\u2019re doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Just one of 22 whales born between 2014 and 2018 is known to have survived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nGlacier Bay\u2019s humpbacks are recovering, slowly, from 2014-16 marine heatwave - Alaska Moving Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=251\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Glacier Bay\u2019s humpbacks are recovering, slowly, from 2014-16 marine heatwave - Alaska Moving Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just one of 22 whales born between 2014 and 2018 is known to have survived.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=251\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Alaska Moving Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-02T16:07:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=251#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=251\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a\"},\"headline\":\"Glacier Bay\u2019s humpbacks are recovering, slowly, from 2014-16 marine heatwave\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T16:07:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=251\"},\"wordCount\":575,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=251#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/711fabd73b70b1ef50f35f4f6fcbd623-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=251#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=251\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=251\",\"name\":\"Glacier Bay\u2019s humpbacks are recovering, slowly, from 2014-16 marine heatwave - 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