Toll of Ill Marine Animals Rising

The toll of sick and dying marine animals keeps rising, the result of a neurotoxin from an unusual plankton bloom off the Southern California coast.

Hundreds of dazed sea lions and dolphins have washed ashore. People have reported seeing pelicans dropping out of the sky or slamming into homes.

“It’s unrelenting,” said Jackie Jaakola, director of Fort MacArthur Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro, which is jammed with sick sea lions. It is as bad, she said, as the 1997-98 El Nino that drove thousands of starving seals and sea lions to seek refuge onshore.

As disturbing as it is to watch a puppy-eyed sea creature floundering, rescue workers and public health officials warn that people should not get too close to bewildered, terrified animals.

“People should not try to pet sea lions,” said Peter Wallerstein, president of the Whale Rescue Team, which picks up sick marine mammals. “These are wild animals with a vicious bite and can transmit diseases.”

Like other rescue workers and animal control officers, Wallerstein’s volunteers have been scurrying across beaches and harbors in recent weeks picking up dead animals and trying to care for those too sick to return to the ocean.

Nearly all of the living animals are disoriented, often suffering from seizures caused by the neurotoxin called domoic acid. The acid, which attacks the brain and nervous system, is produced by rapid reproduction of single-cell plankton, in the genus Pseudonitzschia.

Such blooms of the algae are well-documented in cooler waters off Monterey Bay and farther north. Only this spring have scientists discovered uncontrolled blooms in Southern California waters, which they can’t explain.

Sardines and anchovies eat the plankton, concentrating the toxin in their organs. The toxin is then passed on to sea lions, dolphins and sea birds that eat the small fish.

State health officials also warn the public to avoid eating sardines, anchovies, crabs, clams, mussels and other shellfish that are caught by recreational fishermen along the coast from Los Angeles to the Monterey Bay. Commercial catches should be OK because they are tested frequently for contaminants.

With all the stricken animals to deal with, rescue workers are concerned about human interaction with the sea lions.

“With domoic acid, they are waking up from their seizures like they are on angel dust and attacking whatever they can see,” Wallerstein said.

“The hardest thing we have to deal with is people’s stupidity and ignorance,” he said. “People shouldn’t put their children next to these animals. They shouldn’t try to bounce a ball off their noses. They should keep their distance.”