Of the four whales that have washed up on Orange and Los Angeles county beaches this year, two had high levels of domoic acid poisoning confirmed in their systems, leading marine mammal experts to say it caused their deaths.
Since February, marine rescue centers have been overwhelmed responding to sea lions, dolphins and birds found sick and dying on local beaches from Ventura County to Orange County, poisoned by unusually early blooms of toxic algae.
“This is the first time in Orange County that we’ve seen whales strand during bloom events and confirm it’s related,” said Dr. Alissa Deming, chief veterinarian at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. “It just speaks volumes, such a high variety of animals being impacted over such a large area.”
Confirmation of the poisoning — caused when the animals ingest small bait fish and shellfish that have consumed the toxic algae — was announced on Wednesday, April 23, after researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tested samples taken from the dead whales.
Poisoning was confirmed in a humpback whale found dead in Huntington Beach in January and in a minke whale that was observed swimming in Long Beach’s Rainbow Harbor and later washed up on the shore of the Los Angeles River earlier this month.
“We’ve never seen levels this high,” said Keith Matassa, a marine biologist who runs the Ocean Animal Response and Research Alliance, a nonprofit that is contracted with the city of Los Angeles to respond to dead marine life on the beaches. “When you open them up, it looks fine.”
Teams from PMMC and OARRA take samples from a dead gray whale that washed up in Huntington Beach on April 11. (Photo courtesy of PMMC)But the evidence of toxicity is found in the stomach, feces, urine, fluid from the eyes and in brain and heart samples, he said.
Deming and Matassa, who have been teaming up to do the necropsies, said that while whales have not been found with the toxin before in Southern California, they are not surprised by the results of the minke and humpback because both species feed on anchovies and sardines, same as sea lions and dolphins do.
Results for samples taken from two gray whales — one that washed up in Huntington Beach this month and one found on Dockweiler Beach in Los Angeles County — are still being tested. They are expected back next week, Deming said.
Deming said toxin poisoning wouldn’t typically be on her radar for gray whales as a probable cause of death, because they usually don’t feed during their migration from Mexico to Alaska. But, she said her suspicion increased because the whale recently found in Huntington Beach was in good body condition.
A minke whale — appearing healthy — had been swimming in Long Beach’s Rainbow Harbor and later washed up on the shore of the Los Angeles River in early April. (Photo courtesy of PMMC)The typical causes of death among gray whales are ship strikes or entanglements, she said. But there was no evidence of that in the recent whale’s death.
“If they are hungry and start eating on their migration because there’s not enough food in Alaska, maybe they are at risk of exposure,” Deming said.
Deming credits the Huntington Beach City Lifeguards and the city manager for working with her and Matassa to make the sample collecting easy.
“That has been groundbreaking for us because historically that hasn’t always been the case,” she said. “So the fact that they’re working collaboratively and facilitating samples, not just from this recent gray whale, but also the humpback in Huntington, which was back in January, they have been excellent partners and that has allowed us to open Pandora’s box to get a better understanding of why the whales are stranding.
“It’s so important.”
The algae bloom is not showing a slowdown and rescue centers in Southern California remain overwhelmed.
Matassa said he was called to 15 dead animals found Tuesday on the shoreline between Venice and Manhattan Beach.
“This whole mortality event is the worst I’ve ever seen,” he said. “We’re up to 200 animals and 110 in the month of April. We only see 110 to 130 animals a year. So, we’ve done two years’ worth of work in a month and a half.
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Typically, he said, blooms occur in June and July after animals have had their pups.
Deming said she is responding daily to dolphins that are either dead or dying on the shoreline.
Teams from PMMC and OARRA take samples from a dead gray whale that washed up in Huntington Beach on April 11. (Photo courtesy of PMMC)“It’s unrelenting, the sheer number of animals that are dying,” she said. “The stamina we need to keep up with it. It’s exhausting, physically, emotionally and financially; it’s really taking a hit on us.”
She said that while the priority is taking care of patients, sometimes recovered animals are sent back to the wild earlier than she would like.
“When you have critical patients on the beach that need a bed in the hospital, we have to send the healthy ones back,” she said. “That’s been the hard part. Our effort in working so hard in getting the animals better and then having to turn around and send them to a home that is not quite healthy for them to return to is just heartbreaking.”
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