A new license plate featuring a gray whale and her calf will be available in Oregon as of February 1st. Sales will help fund whale research.
Bruce Mate is the Director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. He says gray whales are the most common mammals we see off the Oregon coast.
“We have 17 species of marine mammals along the Oregon coast." says Mate, "This is one that started out on the endangered species list and has fully recovered from its exploitation by whalers. About 1900 there were between 1 and 2 thousand of these animals and now there are over 20 thousand.”
Gray whales migrate along the Oregon coast between their arctic foraging areas and breeding habitat in Mexico. The whale plates cost $40 dollars. $35 of that will go to the Marine Mammal Institute for research, education and outreach.
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