‘Just bodies of animals everywhere’: Toxic algae bloom taking a toll on California marine life ...Middle East

One by one, the four California sea lions slid out of their crates and into the ocean. As the SeaWorld San Diego rescue boat bobbed nearby, one of the pinnipeds dove deep and then popped his head out of the water, his mouth full of what may have been a squid.

SeaWorld’s rescue curator Jeni Smith smiled. “We had a pep talk,” she said, “and I said, ‘Don’t eat those toxic fish, OK? Get the good fish.’”

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Wednesday’s return to the wild by the four sea lions marked a small victory in the battle against a toxic algae bloom that has sickened and killed hundreds of animals from San Luis Obispo to San Diego in recent months. Three of the four released sea lions had been treated for suspected domoic acid poisoning, including one seen having seizures, a trademark symptom of the neurotoxin.

Up and down the coast, sea birds, sea lions, dolphins and even whales have fallen victim to the bloom starting in late February. One recent Sunday, 16 dead dolphins were collected from San Diego-area beaches.

There were so many bodies that marine biologists ran out of refrigerator space at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Fisheries Science Center and turned to SeaWorld, which stored eight of them.

Necropsies were done on the animals to try to determine what killed them, with samples sent to a Seattle lab to be analyzed. Officials reported last month that out of 14 dolphins tested at that point, 11 showed high levels of domoic acid.

“It is kind of the first time I’ve seen in San Diego County where there is just bodies of animals everywhere,” Smith recalled in an interview last week. “We were driving to rescue a California sea lion in Carlsbad, and we passed by a pelican that had already passed … We are getting calls often, and we are trying to take note of where the deceased animals are and passing that info along to Southwest Fisheries. But there are just so many.”

This is the fourth year in a row there’s been significant blooming of Pseudo-nitzschia off the coast of California. It creates domoic acid, a neurotoxin that accumulates in small fish, like sardines and anchovies, which are then eaten by marine mammals and birds.

Some sea lions suffering from high levels of domoic acid have acted aggressively toward swimmers and surfers near them in the water. The neurotoxin causes brain and heart damage. Tests confirmed high levels of the toxin in a humpback whale that stranded in Huntington Beach in January and in a minke whale that died in Long Beach Harbor in April. 

Although rescuers continue to scramble to help ailing animals, there are signs the crisis may be easing. This week, scientists reported seeing a substantial decline in the algae at some monitoring spots along the coast, an indication the bloom might be dissipating.

SeaWorld officials said Tuesday was the first day since the outbreak began that its rescue team went a whole day without getting a call about an animal with suspected domoic acid poisoning. NOAA officials say reports of freshly dead dolphins also have slowed.

SeaWorld rescuers were back at it Wednesday, though, responding to two animals having seizures. “I don’t think we are completely done with this, but hopefully we are at a spot where we can catch our breath,” Smith said.

The marine park has treated more than 62 sea lions, releasing 16 after they recovered. As of Thursday, it had treated 59 birds, releasing 11.

While exact counts lag a bit, officials believe nearly 700 sea lions and more than 200 dolphins have stranded since the bloom began. While some pinnipeds have been successfully treated and released, domoic acid poisoning is almost always fatal for dolphins.

“So far this is the largest and most intense algal bloom since I’ve been here,” said Justin Viezbicke, the California stranding network coordinator, who has worked for NOAA for around 12 years. “All of our facilities are really full, and the staff and the volunteers have been going for months now.”

While SeaWorld responds to sick or injured animals and rescues those that have a chance of recovering, NOAA Southwest Fisheries investigates dead stranded marine mammals. SeaWorld has a 40-member rescue team, including full- and part-time employees and a “bullpen” of 22 former staffers called in when needed. The marine park is trying to hire more rescue staff.

Scientists who study oceans say that Pseudo-nitzschia isn’t the only harmful algae that’s flourishing. Two others are blooming, including Alexandrium, which creates saxitoxin and causes paralytic shellfish poisoning that can be harmful to marine mammals and humans, and Akashiwo sanguinea, which can cause hypothermia in sea birds.

In April, state health officials began to warn the public not to consume sport-harvested bivalve shellfish in San Diego County after PSP toxins and domoic acid were detected in mussels. (An annual statewide quarantine on mussels went into effect May 1.) The advisory also covers sport-harvested clams, scallops and oysters in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The advisories do not apply to commercially sold shellfish because that market is subject to frequent mandatory testing to monitor for toxins, state officials say.

Paralytic shellfish poisoning affects the nervous system and can lead to a loss of balance, slurred speech and difficulty in swallowing. Severe poisonings can cause paralysis and death from asphyxiation.

Clarissa Anderson, a biological oceanographer and harmful algal bloom expert at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, said some animals are testing positive for domoic acid and for PSP, which have some overlapping symptoms. She said there’s no way to know how many animals have acute saxitoxin poisoning because those stricken may become paralyzed and drown before making it to shore.

Anderson said recent algae blooms were fueled by La Niña weather patterns that brought colder, nutrient-rich waters to the surface. A “ribbon” of cold water formed in December and was still in place in April, extending about 30 miles off the shoreline.

“This is the longest cold stretch that we’ve had in that swath of the ocean since 2010 and 2011, which was another major La Niña,” Anderson said.

For algal blooms to end, there needs to be some kind of disruption that will “turn off the runaway train,” she said, and allow other organisms to thrive.

“You need some kind of a change in the system — whether that’s nutrients, temperature or light, or a combination of the three — to kind of kick out the winners right now and get some others that are less harmful as the winners,” she said.

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