'It looked like smokestacks': Nearly 300 gray whales crowd Kodiak in a rare bright spot

'It looked like smokestacks': Nearly 300 gray whales crowd Kodiak in a rare bright spot

Unusually large numbers of gray whales near Kodiak Island are giving Alaskan communities and marine scientists an uncommon reason for hope. Near Pasagshak Bay in the summer of 2025, Sun'aq Tribe natural resources director Matt Van Daele expected to see only a few whales. However, it proved to be a much bigger gathering.  As KMXT reported, he said the scene was so packed that "it looked like smokestacks from all the whales breathing." What happen…