Peter Wallerstein of the Marine Animal Rescue Team in Marina del Rey received a call last weekend about a sick dolphin that had come ashore in Manhattan Beach.
"When I got there, there were at least 100 people that had surrounded the sick animal," he said. "Kids were screaming, people were pulling the dolphins flippers and others were poking at it while it was having seizures. All that commotion can be the thing that ultimately ends the dolphin's life."
The dolphin, which presumably had been suffering from the effects of domoic acid poisoning, eventually died.
It's one of 16 common dolphins known to have perished this month. Though testing is incomplete, domoic acid is believed responsible for all of the dolphin deaths.
Domoic acid, which also has affected dozens of California sea lions this spring, is a biotoxin found in algae blooms. It remains dormant in fish and shellfish that feed on the algae until larger mammals and birds feed on the fish that have ingested the algae.
It does not typically have a large-scale impact on dolphins, but this appears to be a particularly powerful strain of toxin.
The majority of dolphin strandings have occured between Malibu and Newport Beach. Wallerstein advised the public to stay away from any sick mammals they might encounter.
Five of the strandings occurred during the past few days. A lone Dall's porpoise also washed ashore dead recently.
"The dolphins that are washing up on the beaches are a window to what’s going on in the ocean’s environment," said Joe Cordaro, a National Marine Fisheries Service biologist. “Undoubtedly more animals are dying at sea, it’s just impossible to say how many."
Cordaro said the last time a domoic acid event impacted dolphins on a large scale was in 2005, when about 50 dolphins showed signs of poisoning. The biologist said there is no way to tell how much longer this will last. He points out there were five dolphin deaths last Wednesday, then nothing until Sunday when there were another five deaths.
"This thing has been stopping and starting from the beginning," he said. "There really is no way of telling how much longer it will last. It could be over and then again it could go on for another month."
-- Philip Friedman
Note: Anyone who sees an injured marine animal should call Wallerstein at 800-39WHALE
Photo of common dolphin off Orange County is by Pete Thomas
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