7,000 humpback whales died in the North Pacific over 10 years — and 'the blob' is to blame

A whale tail image taken just out of water.

Around 7,000 humpback whales in the North Pacific Ocean may have starved to death following the disastrous effects of a marine heat wave, a new study reveals.

From 20 years' worth of data, researchers found that a 20% drop in the North Pacific humpback whale population coincided with a marine heat wave dubbed "the blob" — an event that was responsible for record-breaking mass mortalities of multiple seabird species around the world.