The majority of the gray whales use a migratory route that takes them on the other side of the Channel Islands. So we see only a small percentage of the total gray whale population. Our counts are not used to determine the population of the gray whales. This project documents the seasonal usage of the near shore migratory path and documents changing trends over the years. This graph shows the fluctuations in our counts for different years.
American Cetacean Society Gray whale Migration Census, Point Vicente
for the period 1984 through 2001/2002