what are they trying to tell us?

The WSJ ran this photo last week. It gave me pause.

What are these animals trying to tell us? It is hard to imagine they got so confused they swam on shore. Why would they beach themselves? These are intelligent mammals not fish.

Taken with the local news about the "crashing fish stocks" of Pacific Salmon, one wonders about the survival of non-farm animals.

(I cannot find the photo in WSJ but there Google turned up hundreds of other articles about the issue, some with the same photo.)