Visitors seeking joyful views of marine life along the Southern California coast instead encounter marine mammals taking their last breaths.
As peak beach season and the July 4 holiday approach, California officials and experts are warning of an unprecedented sea lion die-off.
The probable cause, domoic acid from an offshore algae bloom, is not unusual. But the extent of envenoming, which can cause brain damage, seizures and death in sea lions, is rare, experts say.
John Warner, executive director of the Marine Mammal Care Center, a nonprofit rescue organization serving Los Angeles County, said the facility was full, with nearly 70 sea lions on site. Another 70 along the Los Angeles coast still needed rescue, he said.
“Based on our experience in Los Angeles County, this is one of the worst years in recent memory,” Warner said.
The Los Angeles Unified School District was expected to announce Tuesday that it will give the Marine Mammal Care Center, which operates on district property, additional space, a salvage tank and piping for the tank.
Meanwhile, tourists and visitors witness poisoned sea lion mothers giving birth to stillborn pups, Warner said.
“Every popular beach you can name has animals taking over them right now,” he said, “right in front of everyone on vacation or enjoying the nice weather.”
Points north, including Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, are seeing worse numbers, with the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute in Santa Barbara reporting 200 sick or dead marine mammals each day. according to a report. NOAA Fishing Report in the flower
“I have never seen anything this intense in terms of numbers of animals in my 20 years of responding to strandings in this area,” said Michelle Berman Kowalewski, founder and director of the Channel Islands Cetacean Research Unit in Santa Barbara. , at the National. Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration article.
The offending flower has been traced to waters off central California and off the northern tip of southern California, where warm water and cooler water rising from the depths, called upwelling, can create Ideal conditions for algal growth.
Scientists believe that the blooms, which are becoming almost annual, are also driven by urban runoff that includes agricultural fertilizers and human waste. The increased frequency of blooms can also be correlated with global warming, as well as the warmer and wetter climates of El Niño, the weather phenomenon present and expected to strengthen by winter.
Earlier this month, state health officials warned against eating mussels, clams or scallops from Santa Barbara County. He shellfish may contain domoic acidwhich they say can cause gastrointestinal illness or even cause breathing problems, coma or death.
Sick sea lions can be treated if domoic acid poisoning is diagnosed early, said Kelsey Herrick, a SeaWorld San Diego veterinarian.
The toxins can be removed with fluids and medication, he said, but some animals will suffer irreversible brain damage. Marine mammals don’t take up domoic acid directly, but rather through fish that eat the algae, Herrick said.
The San Diego coast is at the end of the impacts of the bloom, but SeaWorld’s marine life rescue team rescued seven sea lions and a dolphin believed to have suffered from the poisoning this month, he said.
Experts warn tourists to stay away from marine mammals in any situation, but especially if they appear to be having a seizure or vomit, behave aggressively, or miscarry.
Herrick said that the strange behavior of the last fur seal on the San Diego Freeway, which made headlines after exploring restaurants, cruising down a freeway and wading into an urban creek, can now be explained by demoic acid poisoning.
A post-mortem examination showed brain damage consistent with poisoning, he said.
“We found them turning up in strange places: on roads, on private property, in someone’s backyard,” Herrick said of the affected marine mammals. “Unfortunately, it is very abnormal.”
steve patterson contributed.
