Reading this was so heartbreaking.
Thank you to all the volunteers who did all they could do.
Quite sad indeed.
What I got from the article and a searching through some .gov/.edu pdf mess on Google... figured I'd summarize.
Overview
A pod of these whales can be several to as big as a hundred. They are closely knit families and a leader going astray or sick may cause all whales to suffer the same demise as they refuse to leave them behind.
When part of the pod, especially leaders within, is sick or disoriented the whole pod commonly dies too.
There was a big one in NZ in 1918 with what was said to be 1000 whales.
Normally a handful or smaller pods / subsets strand, ~400 is a lot.
What Caused This? [1]
Often a multitude of contributing conditions may lead up to this breach.
Scientists will perform pathology to determine if illness is cause.
No news source or official report of cause is possible or appropriate this early.
Some Theories/Causes Behind Mass Whale Standings
Don't choose one here as your scapegoat because no consensus has been reached or cause offered... that's not how science works!
Humans could potentially cause stranding if an underwater explosion / pressure waves damages hearing and navigation ability. (Offshore drilling, depth charges, military tests, etc.)
Anything that could disorient a pod or at least enough of a pod of whales could cripple and kill the entire family. Illness in the leader(s) or miscarriages might only affect a few but drive the pod to mass stranding.
Oceanic conditions alongside already tough to navigate shallow seas may be the tipping point in disorienting navigation and disrupting communication amongst the pod. [2]
Aquaman telepathic or direct communication negligence in naval defense exercises in the event undersea warfare erupts similar to the shenanigans involving Nazi U-Boats during WWII. Likely Orm, Aquaman's half brother and nemesis, was screwing with Aquaman through water displacement, weather, or crazy lightning stuff.
Misguided or inherent collateral damage from the targeted disruption of US Naval UUV devices (unmanned submarines) by the Kremlin's use of sonar pulse equipped dolphins. On behalf of Chinese interests, these fiercely resilient aquatic communists often will escape and flee wreaking havoc on other marine mammals. (PTSD for armed defecting communist dolphins can trigger mass pod murders or navigation disruption.)
North Korea often failing to detonate many nuclear tests often has to run several "tests" until one of the great leader's bombs blows up. Some speculate international outrage over these tests is disproportionately lacking as North Korea is often a bit surprised too when one finally works. (Like winding a jack in the box knowing one turn eventually will be the last) In keeping their citizens believing it was not much, often the duds are just left down on the sea floor and never spoken of again. However one of these duds had one partial reaction and in heating up became neutral buoyant at around 1000m and floated down and sank in a deep trench leaking nuclear waste. While whales mostly do not feel the effects, squids have mutated into many times their original size and increased in intelligence. As such the ongoing war between whalekind and squids for control over the most comfortable water areas is escalating. The mass breaching was the pod's last ditch effort to out-maneuver an approaching surprise squid strikeforce. In fleeing beyond the squids' range they went a bit further beyond their own depth in the panic and instead found themselves in the very situation intended for their aquatic assailants.
The whales trusting the safety of a whaling free zone, let their guard down. A Japanese fisherman illegally whaling in a whaling-[gun]-free zone exploited the unarmed state of the seas and while the whale's called the authoritseas, their response time was far too slow and ultimately the whale was shot (but not caught) as the suspects fled the scene sailing a dark colored modified yacht with lowered sails. The UN's peace keeping attachment suggests further whaling-free zones to deter fisherman such as this. A spokesperson for the authoritseas, however, suggested safety practices and an security regardless of what the law suggests. Australian and New Zealand harpoon control laws have not affected the harpoon wielding Japanese / other poaching nationalities who have access to and can manufacture their own harpoons. Another consideration is arming the whales with projectile defenses to harpoon or maim whalassailants; this would indeed deter illegal whaling but falls short on feasibility. (cost being the hardest part to believe in any of these ideas)
The whales got bored.
Alternative Explanation
A school of fish travelled through the eastern rubbish aggregation contracted an illness, disease, or built up toxic chemicals in their blood. Months later, that school became food for an unusually large whale pod that skillfully quarantined and ingested the toxic chemicals in the fish. (Fish being unaffected, whales not so much)
One of the large offenders of plastic pollution and littering is California... plastic waste was thrown into the ocean (or rivers and bays) from Southern California; this is because 'dem illegal Spanish speaking Mexicans unable to read the waste disposal signage and instructions in English thought that was okay like back home.
This plastic floated out over many years and contributed largely to the giant floating rubbish mentioned before. It found it's way into a school of fish that later swam and were mostly eaten by a pod of whales; many of which suffered organ failures the following days. [3]
Mass breaching of whales occurs in New Zealand, a country that speaks English like the plastic pollutants from which the ailments came.
The plastic itself was manufactured in China which is why it floats in the left rubble side in link above as that's closer to China
Rumor has it that if Trump deports those unable to read the English no littering signs and builds a wall, the trash won't be littered.
Additionally making the manufacturing of plastics great again (American again) will ensure all waste that still slips past the signage will float on the right-hand American side of the Pacific Ocean.
Thus solving the mass whale breaching problem once and for all! [4]
[ TL;DR ] Wise choice. This is mostly just an awkward rehashing of bad jokes and obscure references while my power was out on my phone.
[1] I'm not an expert here just as of writing this felt a shorter summary might be useful for others.
[2] All that follows are "presented just as seriously and scientifically as the stuff above no joking completely serious!". My power is out but this cellphone has data and runs on batteries...whew. Going to type until power's back...
[3] Power is back, worst novel ever noticed now. Got to finish this really terrible overused joke...
[4] I cannot believe I typed this in ~20 minutes on my phone. The jokes are not even good. Perhaps the top makes this comment worth submitting I guess
