The gray whale calf is the second whale to be found beached since Jan. 14, 2023, off Fort Stevens State Park near Warrenton.

WARRENTON — A young gray whale found dead near the Peter Iredale shipwreck at Fort Stevens State Park near Warrenton on Jan. 18 died soon after birth, officials said.

A team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network led by Portland State University completed a necropsy Friday, Jan. 20.

The examination determined the 12-foot long female whale had begun nursing. The umbilical cord was gone, but its wound had not yet healed.

“The team found no signs of trauma or other obvious cause of death, but took numerous tissue, blood and fluid samples that will be analyzed for clues about why the young whale did not survive,” NOAA Fisheries said in a statement.

Scientists will also look for signs of why the survival of gray whale calves may have declined in recent years.

NOAA Fisheries declared an unusual mortality event in 2019 after researchers found a decline in gray whales along the West Coast.

The federal agency said the population is estimated at 16,650, down 38% since 2016. Last year, there were the fewest calves on record since counts began in 1994.

Gray whales are migrating south along the West Coast from the Arctic to Mexico, according to NOAA Fisheries. Females often give birth along the way and nurse the calves as they go.

The whales will return to the Arctic to feed later in the year.

The gray whale was the second whale found dead at Fort Stevens State Park in a week. A sperm whale found beached Jan. 14 about 100 yards from the calf was determined to have died by ship strike.

Michael Milstein, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said another gray whale was found at Crescent Beach in Ecola State Park.

However, he said, the whale was so decomposed that it is unlikely a necropsy will be conducted.

Farther south on the coast at Winchester Bay near Reedsport, Milstein said the state investigated a gray whale that was found stranded on Jan. 11.

“We think that the stormy conditions off the West Coast over the last month may be carrying more carcasses to shore that otherwise would have deteriorated at sea,” he said.