Daily for the last week or so, rescue teams have been called to Southern California beaches to help dolphins that are sick and flailing, stranded on the sand.
Experiencing seizures, most likely caused by eating fish and shellfish poisoned by an unusually early bloom of toxic algae, the dolphins have been seeking safety on the sand.
So have been sea lions and sea birds, found in large numbers dehydrated, seizing and otherwise struggling on beaches, and the numbers are ramping up.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said centers from Ventura to Orange County have been getting more than 100 calls a day.
Overwhelmed by the number of animals it appears this current algae bloom is sickening, rescue centers are asking local governments for more assistance.
Mass strandings from toxic algae blooms are becoming almost yearly occurrences. One in 2023 had centers overflowing with animals needing rehabilitation and more than 1,000 sea lions and dolphins were reported dead.
“This is worse than 2023,” said John Warner, CEO of the Marine Mammal Center Los Angeles in San Pedro. “Our vets are out there every morning euthanizing dolphins. We’ve never experienced that.”
Researchers at the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System are monitoring the bloom. Early reports said the animals were likely being affected in deeper, offshore waters, but monitoring stations are picking up evidence of the toxin closer to shore.
Now, about four weeks after centers started reporting the unseasonably early bloom produced by a species of marine plankton filled with a neurotoxin called domoic acid, Warner is asking for more help from local governments in Los Angeles County.
After the 2023 episode, he approached his beach cities and Los Angeles County, warning that changing ocean conditions could mean more frequent bouts of the toxic blooms and other factors that sicken marine life.
“We just came off of what was the worst thing we had ever seen less than two years ago,” he said, adding that to compound the present challenges, there is a delay in getting seizure medications needed to treat the animals and the centers are having to go to human-grade pharmacies where the costs are much higher.
“These types of emergency responses require emergency readiness and resources,” he said, adding the rescue centers traditionally have relied solely on their private fundraising. “People have to give us the answer. If it’s ‘No,’ we have to let the public know they’ll be seeing animals stranded without anyone helping them. We don’t like it or want it, but it’s not going to fall on us to take the blame for that.”
Among the cities giving annual financial support are Long Beach, Ranchos Palos Verdes, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach, and they gave tens of thousands of dollars to MMCLA this year. The amounts given are what the center asked for based on beach coverage, stranding numbers, and city budget sizes, Warner said.
“These are not large dollar amounts we’re asking for, but, in the aggregate, it really provides us about 20% of our annual operating budget, which gives us the ability to start a year not at zero and able to absorb with regular increasing philanthropy the needs,” Warner said.
“When we start with zero and we don’t know whether we’re going to be able to afford the number of personnel needed, that’s what really causes us to be caught without being able to meet the moment,” he added. “I can’t keep meeting the moment on a hope and a prayer.”
“We hope this event brings everyone back to the table so a regional solution can be put into place as we see these mass strandings happening more frequently,” he said.
The dolphin deaths that are happening on the beaches are making this event even more tragic, Warner said, estimating that by the start of this week, more than 50 dolphins just in Los Angeles County had died.
“Lifeguards are usually the first to get these calls, and our responders have told them what they can do to keep the animal alive until we get there,” Warner said. “They’ve got towels that they wet, and they know not to put towels over the blow hole. And to have the animal in the sand on their stomach so they’re supported firmly in the sand because they will be shaking, seizing, or flopping. Keeping them really calm and keeping people away.”
When beachgoers get to the dolphins first, their inclination is often to push the animals back in the water, said Dr. Alissa Deming, chief veterinarian at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. That’s the worst thing they can do, because a seizing dolphin would likely drown, she said.
Warner said it is all hands on deck — he was out on the sand in Manhattan Beach with his rescue team on Monday, March 17, and the group had to pass two dead dolphins and a seizing sea lion to get out to a dolphin still alive and being comforted by lifeguards.
“We got to the dolphin that the lifeguards are emotionally invested in, and they kept this animal alive, having to wait 40 minutes for us to get there,” he said. “It’s very stressful. We’ve been in contact with (Los Angeles County) Beaches and Harbor, and they’re saying their teams are more overwhelmed than they were in 2023, and now there’s this influx of dead birds, and that looks like it’s (domoic acid poisoning) as well.”
Again, on Tuesday, the first call MMCLA received was about a dolphin sickened with domoic acid poisoning.
“They’re starting every day euthanizing dolphins,” he said. “It started with a call for a dolphin and ended up being two dolphins and two sea lions by the time she got there in Torrance. Last week got worse and this week is no better.”
The number of affected sea lions is also increasing, with MMCLA reporting at least 80 being cared for in-house and as many dead on beaches. At the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, rescues in the last two weeks have skyrocketed, with 45 animals – most pregnant females – now in its care.
“This morning, we had three calls within 30 minutes of daylight breaking,” CEO Glenn Gray said Tuesday. “That’s the magnitude of it.”
Gray, like Warner, said the center could use help from local cities and the county. Laguna Beach already provides the land where PMMC is renovating its old facilities with a $20 million upgrade and is allowing the nonprofit to use city land nearby for its temporary field hospital. Newport Beach, Gray said, gives the center some money.
With the passage of Proposition 4 last year, a state bond measure to fund climate projects, Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley she said she is looking at how to bring funding to Orange County.
“I am committed to finding creative ongoing funding sources for PMMC, including collaborating with our state relationships,” she said, adding that her office in previous years has supported the center. “I plan to meet with PMMC leadership to discuss how we can help support their critical mission.”
Gray said that even if more government assistance doesn’t come in, the lifeguards on the front lines along the coast are a big help.
“We couldn’t do what we do without the lifeguards out there identifying the problems,” he said. “They take pictures; they try to quarantine an animal from the looky-loos at the beach.”
And that’s exactly what’s happening at the sand in West Newport, where it’s become Spring Break central for students from all across the Western states, said Newport Beach Chief Lifeguard Brian O’Rourke.
“Last week, it was kids from Utah; this week, it’s Las Vegas,” he said. “It’ll be from the Pacific Northwest in the next two weeks. They come from all these areas and aren’t familiar with beaches. They see a sea lion and want to get a selfie or group picture.”
In the last few weeks, O’Rourke said he’s seen the number of stranded animals increase just as the number of beachgoers have increased — a dangerous mix.
“We’ve put up signs to stay away from them,” he said. “But they do get too close. They don’t understand that they’re sick.”
On Tuesday, Deming was out with a PMMC rescue team in San Clemente to assist a struggling dolphin just south of the pier. Two other dolphins people had tried to help back into the ocean had drowned.
“The most humane thing to do is to let it play its course and get the professional out there like we did with this dolphin to kind of help them along its way, so he doesn’t have to suffer any longer,” Deming said.
Deming said not much is known about how the toxins affect dolphins, but autopsies will help with that research.
“There’s really no chance of saving these animals from domoic acid,” she said. “The sea lions we’re having a little bit more success with.”
Researchers said the bloom likely came from cold water upwellings deep in the ocean in February, but are unsure how quickly it will fade.
“In February, we could see the impact on sea life even before we could detect the culprit phytoplankton at the coastal stations,” said Kasia Kenitz, a Scripps researcher who is part of the observing system. “The bloom can be either increasing in intensity or simply spreading spatially, both of which would have a significant impact on local sea life.”