The state urges people to avoid eating seafood from the Central Coast because of poison from blooming algae, a phenomenon that has come to Malibu.
By Cortney Litwin/Staff Writer
Alarming numbers of sick mammals and birds are turning up on Malibu beaches. “More than any we’ve ever seen,” said Jackie Jaakola, director of the Marine Mammal Care Center (MMCC) in San Pedro. “It’s comparable to El Nino,” when injured and ill animals typically wash up onto beaches.
Scientists attribute the illnesses to domoic acid from blooming marine algae, a naturally occurring biotoxin that was first discovered in Monterey Bay, Calif. in 1991.
The state Department of Health Services issued a statement on Friday that advised Californians to avoid eating shellfish, crabs, sardines and anchovies caught along the San Luis Obispo Coast because of contamination from the toxin, which can cause illness and even death.
The toxin has been spreading down the coast. Last week, eight sea lions on Malibu beaches, thought to be suffering from domoic poisoning, were rescued and brought to the California Wildlife Center (CWC), and then transferred to the MMCC.
According to Paul Ahuja, a marine biologist from Heal the Bay, 30 common dolphins from Orange County to Ventura County were found ill from the toxin within the past two months. One was rescued in Santa Monica on Monday.
Domoic acid “gets biomagnified as it accumulates in the food chain,” he said, eventually affecting people who eat the infected animals.
Sick birds are showing up as well. “We’ve been getting reports of birds [in Malibu] in the last week or two,” said Ahuja.
On Monday, four pelicans in Malibu were rescued-all of them died.”Pelicans are going into seizures, showing neurological problems and dying,” said Aaron Frank, executive director of the CWC.
Although not confirmed, experts suspect their deaths were also from domoic poisoning. Tissues from marine animals that have washed up dead on local beaches are being tested for the toxin, according to Dr. John Heyning, a marine biologist with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Not all the results have come back yet, but domoic acid has been confirmed in Southern California waters.
“The areas where the most animals have washed ashore dead, mainly dolphins, are in Ventura and the Santa Monica Bay,” he said. “The waters are being tested very carefully. The public should be very aware, but not scared of what’s going on.”
He said the current cycle of events being played out in ocean waters “gives us insight into the natural ecosystem, so we can better understand the human impacts to the environment.”
The CWC was swamped with more than 80 calls last week from Malibu residents concerned about stranded animals that were disoriented, seizing, acting aggressively, lethargic, unable to swim or even foaming at the mouth, according to Victoria Harris, CWC chief operations officer. She was frustrated by the lack of information provided by most of the callers, who usually left only a message saying where the sick animal was located.
“We need to have more than an address,” she said. “We need a phone number and what the symptoms are.”
She said the CWC currently has two sea lions from Malibu it is about to take down to the Marine Mammal Care Center. However, not all beached animals are ill. “Sometimes there are babies up on the sand resting, and that’s okay,” said Harris.
“We’re in a non-El Nino year, so we didn’t expect to have this rush,” said Aaron Frank, CWC executive director. “If it keeps up, our resources will be stretched. Our hospital is as busy as it’s ever been-we’re at twice the patient load as last year. To rescue a 200-pound sea lion, it takes a whole crew.”
Lifeguard Capt. Nick Steers urges people not to bother animals they find on beaches.
“Don’t touch and don’t get near them-they do have sharp teeth and potentially carry rabies,” he said.
If you see an animal in distress, contact a lifeguard, or if on a private beach in Malibu, call the CWC at 310.457.WILD.