Gray Whale Return Numbers Down In Mexico - Temps May Play Role - Reuters

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SAN IGNACIO - The number of grey whales making a yearly migration from the icy North Pacific to breed in Mexico's warm lagoons has dropped this year, scientists say, possibly because of changing weather patterns.

Grey whale researcher William Megill said food shortages in the whales' feeding grounds near Canada and Alaska mean that some of the thousands who make the annual 5,000-mile (8,000-km) journey have departed late or even stayed behind this year. Other researchers said on Thursday that varying sea temperatures in the Bering Sea could be contributing to changes in migration patterns.

Megill, a lecturer at Britain's Bath University, warned those that made the trip may be undernourished and said he feared many could die from lack of energy on their return trip north later in the year.

"We saw in British Colombia this year there was nothing to eat until well into September," he told Reuters at San Ignacio lagoon on Mexico's Baja California peninsula. "I wouldn't be surprised to see carcasses up and the coast, because they didn't have enough food."

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