toxic algae outbreak in CA killing sea creatures

[Guest guest]

Here's a local news story (from the LA Times, but about an outbreak up and

down the CA coast) that is a good argument for those of you with friends who

still eat seafood -- at issue is not only the ethics overall of eating sea

creatures, or risk of ingesting toxins from eating sea creatures, but the

fact that overfishing (and pollution, and other factors) are upsetting the

delicate balance of life in our oceans to a dramatic and scary degree.

 

Locally, a wonderful facility where I volunteer is The Marine Mammal Center

in Marin Headlands. They can always use volunteers and especially now,

donations -- they are in the midst of a big expansion project to help more

marine mammals and need all the help they can get -- and right now they are

full of poisoned, injured, and malnourished sea lions, elephant and harbor

seals. They also have a gift shop and information kiosk at Pier 39, where

you can see wild sea lions on the docks. (The Center rehabilitates and

releases sea animals, it does not display or train them for zoos, etc. I am

not affiliated with the Center other than being a member and volunteer.)

They have had to send some elephant seals to the SF Zoo to gain weight and

get better as they are at capacity in Marin.

 

At minimum, while of course encouraging people to not eat sea creatures at

all, you can mention the sustainable " seafood watch " eating guides available

from the Monterey Bay Aquarium website:

http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp

 

I know the ideal is not eating sea creatures at all, but I know in my

personal outreach encouraging these " baby steps " like eating " responsibly "

can helped pave the way for people mentally to make the change to not eating

animals at all.

 

If you can, take a trip to Marin, the Marine Mammal Center hospital is

closed to the public, but they have a visitor info center adjacent to

gorgeous Rodeo Beach and could use lots of public support!

 

Karen

 

Los Angeles Times: Mass poisoning swamps marine animal rehab centers

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-acid10may10,0,5805025.story?coll=la-home\

-center

An outbreak of toxic algae is called the worst on record; its cause is

unclear. Sea lions and seabirds take a big hit.

By Kenneth R. Weiss

Times Staff Writer

May 9, 2007

 

The current outbreak of toxic algae off the Los Angeles Harbor is the

most virulent on record, scientists say, so overburdening animal

rehabilitation centers that some sickened sea lions are temporarily

left to fend for themselves on Los Angeles County beaches.

 

" We just don't have the space to accommodate them all, " said Lauren

Palmer, staff veterinarian at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San

Pedro. " We could have four or five centers and they would all be full

like this one, " she said, surveying the cages crammed with seals and

sea lions — many of them lying listlessly in piles after suffering

convulsions brought on by the algae's powerful neurotoxin.

 

The decision to leave sea lions on the beach for 48 hours has posed

problems for police, lifeguards and wildlife rescue workers trying

keep a well-meaning public away from whiskered, doe-eyed sea lions

that have beached themselves after suffering epileptic seizures and

brain damage. If the animals don't die or swim away after two days,

they are brought to a rehab center.

 

" LAPD called me last night when a dozen people were trying to feed a

sea lion on Dockweiler Beach that was nipping and biting at them, "

said Peter Wallerstein, who rescues sea lions and other marine mammals

for the Whale Rescue Team.

 

Wallerstein has filed a protest with federal officials over the policy

that keeps sea lions on the beach for 48 hours, saying it is

" inhumane. " But he agreed with authorities that beachgoers should

avoid contact with sea lions, whose sharp teeth are designed for

grabbing fish and ripping flesh.

 

" They are wild animals, and unpredictable, " said Joe Cordaro, a

wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Long

Beach. " Just because they look lethargic doesn't mean they cannot take

a bite out of you. "

 

Cordaro and others advise people who come across the animals on

beaches to keep a distance of 50 feet and call lifeguards or wildlife

rescuers. (See box.) Trying to pet or help a sea lion, he said,

violates the Marine Mammal Protection Act's provision against animal

harassment. " People need to understand that these animals are coming

out to rest, and feeding them or pushing them back into the water is

worsening the situation. "

 

California sea lions, dolphins, porpoises, sea otters, pelicans,

cormorants and other seabirds pick up the neurotoxin known as domoic

acid by eating anchovies, sardines or shellfish that consume the algae

that produce it.

 

The accumulation of this toxin in shellfish has prompted California

health authorities to issue a public warning not to collect and eat

mussels, clams or other shellfish from Southern California waters

because they can be contaminated with domoic acid and cause amnesiac

shellfish poisoning.

 

Commercial catches sold in stores are closely monitored for the toxin

and deemed safe for human consumption.

 

Although the algae, called Pseudo-nitzschia have long been in ocean

waters in diluted concentrations, a shift occurred in 1998 when dense,

virulent blooms were followed by waves of sick marine mammals and

seabirds washing ashore in Southern and Central California. Similar

episodes have recurred every year since, producing unusual growths of

the algae that sometimes produce more of the toxin.

 

Scientists cannot explain the change. Some theorize that unusual

currents are bringing nutrients up from the seafloor. Others attribute

the problem to the influx of nitrogen and nutrients that spew from

sewer pipes and wash off the land.

 

Many experts believe over-harvesting of fish that used to keep algae

in check contributes to the problem, as well as coastal development

that has removed 95% of California shoreline wetlands that once

filtered coastal waters.

 

David Caron, a USC biological oceanographer, has been trying to

discover the cause of the outbreaks. This spring, he and his

assistants found the Pseudo-nitzschia bloom so thick off the mouth of

the Los Angeles Harbor that it formed scummy clumps of the brown-

green algae on the surface.

 

Blooms have been reported all along the West Coast this spring, but at

four sites just outside the Los Angeles Harbor breakwater the

neurotoxin spiked to levels never before recorded, Caron said. " It's

twice as hot anything that we've ever seen before anywhere, " Caron

said. " And I mean anywhere. It's no wonder so many animals have been

affected. "

 

Wildlife rehab centers throughout Southern California have also been

overwhelmed by hundreds of sick and dying pelicans, cormorants,

Western grebes, loons and other seabirds.

 

The National Marine Fisheries Service has declared the wide variety of

dead marine mammals an " unusual mortality " event. It's a designation

that launches an investigation and ushers in experts and research

dollars from around the country.

 

Michelle Berman, who coordinates the investigation from the Santa

Barbara Museum of Natural History, said more than a dozen dolphins and

porpoises and a minke whale are on the growing list of suspected

domoic acid victims.

 

Sea lions are not part of the investigation because domoic acid

poisonings have become so common that such deaths are no longer

considered an unusual mortality event.

 

The Marine Mammal Care Center at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro now has

about 110 marine mammals in a facility built for a fraction of that

number. So far about 35% of the seal lions have died, and

veterinarians and vet technicians cannot do anything about surviving

animals' long-term brain damage from the poison.

 

The mortality rate has been much higher at the Pacific Marine Mammal

Center in Laguna Beach. Of the 52 sea lions and one dolphin rescued in

Orange County, 47 of the animals have died.

 

Federal officials have yet to tally the number of dead sea lions and

other marine mammals washed ashore this year.

 

kenneth.weiss

Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times

 

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