![]() ![]() “It’s like the waves of a tsunami keep washing over our local beaches with even more sea lions and dolphins suffering from domoic acid,” Dover told CNN. The death toll for dolphins is now up to 100, the group said, which Greenman describes as unusual – particularly in how this bloom appears to be affecting species that typically dwell far from the shore. Ruth Dover, a co-founder and managing director of Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute, which has been fielding hundreds of calls about the strandings, said they have responded to more than 100 dead sea lions and 300 live sea lions exhibiting signs of ingesting domoic acid in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The California Department Of Health specifically warned against eating “sport-harvested mussels, clams or scallops from Santa Barbara County” after high-levels of the toxin were detected there. Like dolphins and sea lions, humans can get sick from domoic acid if they eat contaminated food, although seafood is tested for this toxin to prevent it from reaching dinner tables. The North Atlantic is experiencing a 'totally unprecedented' marine heat wave (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images) Owen Humphreys/PA Images/Getty Images It can then travel across the food chain to larger marine animals like dolphins, sea lions and even humans.Ī fishing boat heads out to sea off the coast of Tynemouth on the North East coast of England. ![]() The algae, Pseudo-nitzschia, produces a neurotoxin called domoic acid, which can be poisonous to seabirds and fish once ingested. ![]() Marine-life experts believe the harmful algal bloom is to blame, though they are waiting on test results to confirm it. “It’s completely overwhelming.”Īnd, Greenman said, it doesn’t appear to be ending any time soon. The wave of dead or sick animals is “one of the largest in memory,” Justin Greenman, a stranding coordinator with NOAA Fisheries, told CNN. Officials have received more than 1,000 calls in recent weeks from beachgoers, tourists and residents reporting sick, dying and dead sea mammals washed ashore from Santa Barbara to San Diego County, amid a growing toxic algal bloom in the waters off the coast. The scene is unsettling: hundreds of sea lions and dolphins are sprawled across the beaches in Southern California, either dead or sick and exhibiting abnormal behavior. ![]()
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