PORTLAND, Ore. —
The gray whales will return to be ogled at your favorite coastal parks in March but some of whale watching amenities will not be returning this year.
There will be no trained volunteers on-site to help you spot whales. The Spring Whale Week, which is normally hosted by Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, is canceled for 2022. The Whale Watch Center in Depoe Bay also remains closed but it will reopen to visitors in late spring 2022.
Oregon Parks and Rec. will be bringing back its whale watching live stream on the Oregon State Parks YouTube channel. The live streams are scheduled to happen daily from March 21-25 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
This is the second year in a row there won't be any volunteers to help people spot the whales. This year it has to do with both COVID-19 and a labor shortage that impacted the department.
"It's not so much where we are today, but where we were several months ago when we were dealing with the problem of getting groups together in close quarters," said Chris Havel, a spokesperson with the department. "We need months in advance to prepare for the training and get people in and help them be able to serve."
The parks aren't the only sector feeling the impacts of the labor shortage, so are hotels and restaurants along the coast that may see more visitors during whale watching season.
"It's really hard to find a hotel or restaurant or grocery store without a help wanted sign," said Mellissa Sumner, a spokesperson with the Depoe Bay Chamber of Commerce. Sumner said the labor shortage is at an all-time high along the coast, and despite that, they're still expected to see large crowds head to the beach for spring break over the next few weeks.
If you’re up for going out to try and find the roughly 25,000 gray whales that will pass by Oregon’s shores from late March-June on the way to cooler Alaskan waters, OPRD suggests you go to a designated whale watching site. It said that those sites offer the best chances of spotting whales because their locations are usually slightly elevated above the ocean in areas where the whales are more easily seen.
Click here for a list of whale watching sites.
Many of the whales will be accompanied by their calves who were born during the winter in the lagoons off the coast of Baja, Mexico, which can only make the experience more adorable.