Gray whales in Baja Sur, Mexico are friendly to humans. This started in the 1970s. They are protected and their breeding grounds are protected. During the breeding season the local fisherfolk turn to ecotourism. Maybe 5% of the gray whale population is amiable to humans and seek human interactions. Which is still several hundred whales. Of those whom are friendly, they approach pangas of their own accord. They recognize the captains of the pangas. They like music and dance with the pangas. They mimic human smiling and waving hands/fins. They seek human touch. They are sentient.

It's important to recognize that the industrial whaling that drove whales to near extinction was done by Euro Americans. And the whalers called gray whales "devil whales" for the way the whales fought back. The friendliest whales in the world were considered evil. The same kind of society that produced industrial whaling considers animals to be nonsentient. And it's only now science is "discovering" the intelligence and sentience that animals have always had. Those talking pet buttons are showing us the sentience that has always been there. In the words of astrophysics science writers Mary and John Gribbens, "science is explainable magic."

In countries where whales were never hunted, at least in the Pacific ocean, whales are sacred and ancestors. They rescued fisherfolk at sea. Their sentience has always been a known truth.

The gray whale population is still suffering from the effects of industrial capitalism. There were very few births in Baja Sur this season. There are emaciated whales migrating from Baja to the Artic having to contend with demoic acid bloom in SoCal and toxic runoff from the LA wildfires. They encounter net entanglement along the California coast and diminished food sources. There are an unprecedented number of gray whales inside the San Francisco bay; 6 of whom have died from ship strikes or from starvation. In other parts of the Pacific, they are contending with nuclear waste being released in Fukushima and industrial pollution. In mid April, the gray whale calf count in Oregon was THREE. Last year it was 21. At its peak ten years ago, it was closer to 1500.

I met gray whales in Baja Sur this winter. If you ask me what they gain from interacting with humans, I would say they seek connection with humanity to remind us that humans are connected to the ocean. Whales are keystone species and guardians of the ocean. We are being called on to become guardians of the ocean.

Go to a Whale Festival or ethical whale watching tour anywhere on the West Coast; you will learn so much about whales. Go watch Attenborough's document Ocean. There's a documentary called Whale Wisdom on youtubes I think is alsoAttenborough.

Donate to Gray Whale Research in Mexico (via The Ocean Foundation), Happy Whale (whale identification), entanglement rescues: Marine Life Studies, The Marine Mammal Center, which are all first responders working with NOAA fisheries.