Alaska Sea Grant agent Gay Sheffield from Nome responded to report of a dead bowhead and a dead grey whale northeast of Shishmaref near Cape Espenburg.

A range of wildlife-related events have been occurring this month in Shishmaref and other parts of Norton Sound.

About 20 to 30 medium-sized birds with black backs and white bellies were found spaced out along the entire beach of the island.

We observed more than 50 otherwise healthy (not spawned out) dead fish including pink and chum salmon and white fish

This walrus was found by a local fisherman and reported by LEO Network to the US Fish and Wildlife Walrus Hotline. The carcass is thought to be too old for necropsy or sample collection.

NOAA is investigating what it’s calling “unusually large numbers” of seal deaths.

Caused by eating fish that has not been properly chilled, symptoms can last up to 48 hours and include severe headaches, palpitations, blurred vision and abdominal cramps.At least seven people fell ill between May and August. Between 2015-2018, there were only five.