At least one waterfront landowner in the U.S. state of Washington has agreed to allow dead gray whales to decompose on their property.

There are too many gray whale carcasses washed up this year that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries says it has run out of places to take them.

In response, the agency has asked landowners to volunteer property as a disposal site for the carcasses. By doing so, landowners can support the natural process of the marine environment, and skeletons left behind can be used for educational purposes, officials said.

However, the carcasses can be up to 12 meters long, which is a lot to decay, and could take months. A Washington state Landowner Mario Rivera, of Port Hadlock, told reporters that the smell is intermittent and "isn't that bad."

"It is really a unique opportunity to have this here on the beach and monitor it and see how fast it goes," said his wife, Stefanie Worwag.

The federal agency said that about 30 whales, the highest record in two decades, have stranded on Washington’s coast this year.

On the U.S. West coast, about 70 whales have been found dead this year along California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. About five were found on British Columbia beaches. Still, that is a small fraction of the total number because those ones that sink or wash up in remote areas and are unrecorded.

NOAA Fisheries declared the die-off an "unusual mortality event," and provided additional resources to respond to the deaths last month.

Officials say the gray whale population remains strong at about 27,000.

(Cover image: Fisherman Duat Mai stands atop a dead whale at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. /AP Photo)

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