SEATTLE (AP) — Federal researchers indicate the gray whale population along the West Coast is showing signs of recovery five years after hundreds washed up dead on beaches from Alaska to Mexico.
The increase in population numbers comes after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association determined in November that the “unusual mortality event” that began in 2019 has ended.
“It’s nice to be able to report some good news the last couple of years,” Aimee Lang, a research biologist with NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center, told The Seattle Times.
The agency has estimated the total number of eastern north Pacific Gray whales to be between 17,400 to 21,300, an increase from an estimated 13,200 to 15,960 whales last year.
The population began to decline after numbering about 27,000 whales in 2016. The mortality event hits its peak between Dec. 17, 2018, and Dec. 31, 2020, the agency said. It involved 690 dead gray whales that washed ashore from Alaska to Mexico. Of those, 347 were in the U.S., 316 in Mexico and 27 in Canada.
In an average year, about 35 whales washed up dead in the U.S. Five years ago, those whales washed up on coastlines in California, Oregon, Washington state and Alaska.
Every year in late September, whales migrate 10,000 miles (16,093 km) from feeding grounds in the Arctic to birth their calves along Mexico’s Baja Peninsula.
NOAA researchers said the mortality event was due to ecosystem changes in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas off northern Alaska, which changed access to and quality of prey.
“These changes contributed to the poor nutritional condition observed in live whales in the wintering areas of Mexico and dead stranded gray whales in all three countries,” NOAA said. “This malnutrition led to increased mortality during the whales’ annual northward migration (from Mexico to Alaska) and decreased production of calves. This resulted in an overall decline in population abundance.”
The eastern North Pacific gray whales were removed from the endangered species list in 1994, after recovering from the whaling era.
FILE - A gray whale dives near Whidbey Island as seen from a Pacific Whale Watch Association vessel, May 4, 2022, in Washington state. Federal researchers indicate the gray whale population along the West Coast is showing signs of recovery five years after hundreds washed up dead on West Coast beaches, from Alaska to Mexico. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
VERON, Dominican Republic (AP) — As soaring violence and political turmoil grip neighboring Haiti, the Dominican Republic will hold elections Sunday that have been defined by calls for more crackdowns on migrants and finishing a border wall dividing the countries.
Politics in the two Caribbean nations sharing the island of Hispaniola have long been intertwined. Haiti’s spiral into chaos in recent years has coincided with a harsh crackdown by its Dominican neighbor.
President Luis Abinader, a clear frontrunner race as he seeks reelection in the presidential race, has begun to build a Trump-like border wall along Haiti’s border and carried out mass deportations of 175,000 Haitians just last year. Dominicans also will be choosing members of Congress.
“We will continue to deport everyone who is illegal from any country,” Abinader said in a debate in late April. “A society that doesn’t do that is chaos and anarchy.”
Abinader, who has also pledged to strengthen the nation’s economy, said he would finish construction of the border wall with Haiti. His closest competitors – former President Leonel Fernández and Santiago Mayor Abel Martínez – have echoed his calls to ramp up the actions against migration.
The crackdown has marked an intensification of longtime policies by the Dominican government that human rights groups have alleged are discriminatory and put vulnerable people at risk.
Fernández, of the People’s Force party, said Dominicans were “afraid to go out into the streets" despite Abinader's policies. He also said he would continue crackdowns while respecting human rights.
Dominican voters seem to be rewarding Abinader for the crackdown, with the incumbent favored to get more than the 50% support needed to win in the first round of voting. If no candidate reaches the 50% mark a runoff between the top vote-getters would be held.
Ana Pagán, a 34-year-old supervisor at a communications company in the country's capital of Santo Domingo, said she approved of the border wall being built and the measures taken by the government.
“No foreigner who wants to stay here in the Dominican Republic should do so illegally, and that's what (the government) has said," she said.
However, Pagán said the wall doesn't solve all of the country's issues, and she referred to what have been the other key electoral issues for Dominicans: crime and endemic corruption. Pagán said many of the country's security problems come from corrupt officials allowing smuggling and other crimes.
While Dominican voters want continued a government crackdown on migrants, many of the hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the Dominican Republic live in fear.
Haiti, long stricken by tragedy, has been in a downward spiral since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Gangs have warred for power, injecting terror and turmoil into the lives of many in the Caribbean nation.
In recent weeks – following the prime minister's resignation – a transition council tasked with choosing Haiti's new leaders has offered a small dose of hope of easing some of the country's many woes.
The ongoing violence has forced many to flee their homes and seek refuge in places like the Dominican Republic and the United States. The Dominican government's policies have stirred concerns among both newly arrived migrants and Haitians that have long called the Dominican Republic home.
Yani Rimpel, a 35-year-old Haitian businesswoman in the eastern city of Veron, has lived in the country for 20 years. She told the AP she’s never seen such uncertainty among Haitian communities, something she attributes to Abinader’s migratory policy.
Two weeks ago, she said immigration agents broke into her house at dawn with heavily armed soldiers in tow. She said they searched the house and stole cash she saved up to buy and sell merchandise, leaving her without any means to support herself.
“If (Abinader) stays in power, I can’t live here. I’m going to have to move back to my house in Haiti. Because here I have no value. I’m not safe. I don’t have a way to live here if he continues” as president, she said.
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Megan Janetsky reported from Mexico City.
Friends and family fuss over a quinceañera in preparation for her photo session at Colon square in the Zona Colonial neighborhood of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Dominicans head to the polls on Sunday, May 19th to elect a new president and members of their Congress. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
An art dealer and the paintings he sells are reflected in a storefront window in the Zona Colonial neighborhood of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Dominicans head to the polls on Sunday, May 19th to elect a new president and members of their Congress. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Haitians who earn money as moto-taxi drivers and handymen, wait for customers at the Eight batey in the Bahoruco province, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. The Dominican Republic bateyes are settlements of mostly Haitian immigrants and descendents working in the nearby sugarcane plantations. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Migration officials stand on the tailgate step of a paddy wagon as they transport undocumented Haitians in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, May 16, 2024. As soaring violence and political turmoil grip neighboring Haiti, Dominican Republic’s election on May 19 has been defined by calls for more migratory crackdowns and finishing a border wall dividing the countries. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Migration officials detain undocumented Haitians in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, May 16, 2024.As soaring violence and political turmoil grip neighboring Haiti, Dominican Republic’s election on May 19 has been defined by calls for more migratory crackdowns and finishing a border wall dividing the countries. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
FILE - Haitians detained for deportation look out from a police vehicle on a border bridge between Dajabon, Dominican Republic, and Haiti, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. Dominican Republic’s election on Sunday, May 19, 2024 has been defined by calls for more migratory crackdowns and finishing a border wall dividing the countries. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez, File)
FILE - Haitians hold up their immigration status documents to prove they have work permits, in Haina, Dominican Republic, March 16, 2024. Dominican Republic’s election on Sunday, May 19, has been defined by calls for more migratory crackdowns and finishing a border wall dividing the countries. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez, File)
FILE - People wait in vain on the Haitian side of the border, to be allowed to cross into Dajabon, Dominican Republic, Oct. 11, 2023. Dominican Republic’s election on Sunday, May 19, 2024 has been defined by calls for more migratory crackdowns and finishing a border wall dividing the countries. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez, File)
FILE - Dominican Republic's President Luis Abinader speaks during his swearing-in ceremony in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Aug. 16, 2020. Abinader, the frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race as he seeks reelection, has begun to build a Trump-like border wall along Haiti’s border and carried out mass deportations of 175,000 Haitians just last year. (Orlando Barria/Pool via AP File)
Migration officials detain undocumented Haitians in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, May 16, 2024. As soaring violence and political turmoil grip neighboring Haiti, Dominican Republic’s election on May 19 has been defined by calls for more migratory crackdowns and finishing a border wall dividing the countries. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
