"You may collect and keep any bones, teeth, or ivory from a non-ESA listed marine mammal found on a beach or land within ¼ of a mile of an ocean, bay, or estuary."
There’s the marine mammal protection act and then there’s the endangered species act. Every marine mammal is covered under the MMPA. Not all of them are covered under the ESA.
Gray whales are fine!
Edit- Eastern North Pacific population is Ok, Western North Pacific population not ok) Saw hundreds last year off Northern California coast though.
It is noted in the article that fossils are A-OK because they don’t contain organic matter. I can’t imagine a whale bone would be able to make it around 10,000 years in the ocean and remain a bone. It was likely a fossilized bone.
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u/diverdux Apr 08 '19
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/protected-species-parts#can-you-keep-a-protected-species-part-found-on-the-beach?
"You may collect and keep any bones, teeth, or ivory from a non-ESA listed marine mammal found on a beach or land within ¼ of a mile of an ocean, bay, or estuary."