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How Harmful Algal Blooms Are Poisoning California's Marine Wildlife · How To Protect The Ocean

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  (upbeat music)
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  On today's episode of the How
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  to Protect the Ocean podcast,
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  we're gonna be talking about a story
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  that has to do with damoic acid.
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  You're probably
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  wondering what is damoic acid?
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  It's actually something
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  that causes marine mammals
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  to die off the Pacific West Coast
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  or the West Coast of North America.
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  We're gonna be talking
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  about what's happened happening
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  to sea lions, dolphins,
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  and other marine mammals,
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  and seabirds that is causing a lot of
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  people some concern.
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  We're gonna talk about
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  that on today's episode
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  of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  So let's get into it.
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  Hey everybody, my name is Andrew Lewin.
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  Welcome to the How to
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  Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  I'm your host.
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  And this is the
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  podcast where you find out
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  what's happening with the ocean,
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  how you can speak up for the ocean,
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  and what you can do to
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  live for a better ocean
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  by taking action.
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  On today's episode,
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  we're gonna be talking about
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  damoic acid and why this toxic algae
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  is causing damoic acid to
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  actually affect the lives
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  of sea lions, marine
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  mammals, and other marine mammals,
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  such as dolphins and whales,
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  and how this has been
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  going on for a lot longer
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  than it has before.
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  Four years ago, we started
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  to detect this toxic algae
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  in the waters off the Pacific Coast,
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  off the West Coast of North America,
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  in particular California,
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  and that's caused a lot
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  of concern for some people.
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  And we want to talk about it today,
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  because I want to kind of go through
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  and discuss a little bit about what this
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  is all about, right?
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  Just to talk about what damoic acid is
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  and how it affects the body.
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  The damoic acid is a neurotoxin produced
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  by certain algal blooms,
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  particularly those involving
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  algae of the pseudonicisia.
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  I think I pronounced that properly.
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  When these blooms occur,
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  the toxin can accumulate in small fish
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  like sardines and anchovies,
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  and then marine mammals,
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  such as sea lions and dolphins,
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  will consume these
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  fish leading to poisoning,
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  it leads to bioaccumulation.
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  So these tiny, tiny
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  fish will have a little bit
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  of this neurotoxin, this algae in it,
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  because that's what it eats,
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  and then that gets eaten
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  by larger marine mammals,
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  such as sea lions and dolphins.
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  They start to accumulate
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  as they eat many, many fish.
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  They start to accumulate
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  that toxin in the body,
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  and it starts to get really, really bad,
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  and it starts to lead to poisoning.
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  So the affected animals exhibit symptoms
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  like disorientation,
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  lethargy, and seizures.
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  Some display even
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  behavior known as stargazing,
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  where they tilt their
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  heads back and gaze upwards,
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  telltale sign of damoic acid poisoning.
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  So in recent months, these are months,
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  not just a couple of weeks,
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  the situation has escalated.
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  Rescue centers, such as the California,
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  off the California coast,
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  as the Marine Mammal
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  Center, are overwhelmed.
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  The Marine Mammal Care
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  Center in Los Angeles,
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  for instance, has been
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  inundated with cases,
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  hundreds of cases.
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  David Bader, which you're
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  gonna hear from in a video
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  that I've got queued up in a little bit,
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  he's a marine biologist at the center,
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  reported that there have been over 70
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  animals in their care
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  just in that particular location,
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  most suffering from
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  damoic acid poisoning.
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  So this is a big
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  problem that's happening.
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  I wanna play the video to
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  give you a little bit more.
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  It's affecting sea lions, dolphins,
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  and you're gonna see in this clip,
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  it actually is affecting
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  birds as well, sea birds as well.
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  So we're gonna hear a
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  little bit about it.
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  So just, I'm gonna just talk about,
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  I'm gonna queue it up here.
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  Oops.
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  Still getting used to the software.
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  All right, let's just queue it up.
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  Here we go.
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  Struggling what this
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  toxin does to these animals
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  and what environmental
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  factors could be contributing
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  to these algae blooms
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  that we've been seeing.
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  Damoic acid is a neurotoxin.
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  It affects obviously
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  nerves, brain functions,
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  and organ function as well.
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  It causes things like seizures.
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  You saw that a pelican
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  kind of weaving its head.
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  So, you know,
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  repetitive behaviors like that.
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  We see that in sea lions as well.
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  Unfortunately, it can also cause death.
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  This particular boom has
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  been particularly legal
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  for local marine life.
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  Sea birds, dolphins, and
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  sea lions have been impacted.
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  It's been going on
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  about 10 weeks right now.
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  We believe that, you know,
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  ocean conditions are
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  changing because of climate change,
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  ocean acidification,
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  and the vitrification
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  of our coastal ocean.
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  We're shifting the ocean's chemistry,
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  and it's favoring these formations of
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  these kinds of blooms.
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  What contributes to it?
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  Is there anything from our recent
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  wildfires and some of the debris that's
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  ended up in the water that's
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  contributing to this as well?
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  So the major driving factors of this,
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  again, are climate
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  change, ocean acidification,
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  but also neutrification.
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  So runoff, any kind of runoff, is going
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  to contribute to these blooms.
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  The fires certainly had, you
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  know, maybe some nutrients,
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  excess nutrients
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  coming in from, you know,
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  possibly the fire retardants
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  might have had some of that.
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  All runoff though
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  contributes nutrients to the ocean.
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  And this is actually year four of a
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  massive bloom just like this.
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  So the fires might have
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  contributed a little bit,
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  but the major driving factors are beyond
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  just that one event.
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  So this is something we really need to be
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  paying attention to.
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  If we've entered the fourth
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  year now, I see, you know,
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  some of your workers here
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  trying to care for these animals.
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  Can you just talk about what type of
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  impact this has, you
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  know, even on your center?
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  Yeah, well, on the center, we budget in a
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  year for 300 patients
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  over the course of a year.
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  We're just now in April and we've already
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  seen over 300 patients.
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  So impacts on us are certainly financial.
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  I'm just going to stop it there because,
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  you know, we get the picture
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  in terms of what's happening.
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  I'm going to put a link in the show notes
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  if you want to support the
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  Marine Mammal Care Center,
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  because I think it's really important.
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  You mentioned there that financial
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  resources are tight because there have
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  been so many animals.
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  They only have a certain amount of
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  funding and they can only
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  handle what they budget for.
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  And they don't budget for this type of
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  incident, especially an
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  incident that lasts so, so long.
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  Normally when you get toxic algae blooms,
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  like red algal blooms, you get, it lasts
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  maybe for a few weeks, maybe a month.
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  This has been happening
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  for over a couple of months.
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  We're probably into the third or fourth
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  month that has been happening.
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  And we're starting to see more and more
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  animals die in the care and more and more
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  animals being
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  affected along the coastline.
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  So, you know, the root causes you talked
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  about is not only harmful algal blooms,
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  but they're complex.
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  Climate change plays a significant role.
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  Essentially how these algal blooms form
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  is because of the heat in the water.
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  The temperature of the water allows for
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  these toxic algal blooms to form in ways
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  that we've never seen before.
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  Right. We haven't seen this amount and
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  this, this length in a long time when you
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  have algal blooms or you have algae that
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  feed off of temperature off of a specific
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  amount of nutrients like
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  nitrates and phosphates.
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  And this is what happens essentially. You
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  just get this perfect combination of
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  conditions. Sea surface temperatures up,
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  you get nutrient runoff, enough of
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  nutrient runoff to
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  support a bloom of this algae.
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  It's just a plant and it blooms. And then
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  what happens is it just blooms so much
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  that eventually they all die off and they
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  come to the shore or they get eaten by
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  sardines. They get eaten by sea lions.
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  They get eaten by dolphins and so forth
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  and seabirds. And then those start to
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  die. Those are the triggers and sort of
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  the indicators of what's happening.
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  They are the canary in the coal mine when
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  it comes to these toxic algal blooms.
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  Now we're lucky that we have testing with
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  fisheries. So shellfish and other fish so
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  that we don't get the humans who ingest
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  seafood that would get affected by this
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  don't get poisoned because
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  testing is really important.
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  But sometimes that testing fails and you
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  get people who have democ acid toxicity
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  and they can die from it. It has happened
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  before or less now because
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  we know what to look for.
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  But especially cases like this, I'm sure
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  it's affecting the seafood industry along
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  the shore. So it's affecting the economy.
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  It's affecting the health of the animals.
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  It's potentially
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  affecting the health of people.
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  And it's something that you don't want to
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  be around with all these dead animals
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  coming up on shore. All these affected
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  animals. Not only is it heartbreaking to
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  watch, but it's really difficult as
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  someone who's carrying just like David
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  here, who's carrying the
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  people who are caring for them.
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  They're watching these animals
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  essentially die and suffer when they
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  before they die. It's not an easy thing
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  as a care professional to be able to see.
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  And this is something that needs to stop.
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  How do we stop it? This is four years in
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  a row that we've seen this type of stuff
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  go on. Not something that's easy to stop.
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  Unfortunately, we could limit nutrient
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  runoff, but at point sources, which is
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  mean like there's a pipe and that
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  nutrient goes off. We can limit that by testing what's at the end of the day.
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  But then you have non point source. You
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  have non and appoint or end of pipe
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  sources where it just comes in from
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  anywhere. And that could be anything that
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  comes in. They're very difficult to
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  monitor. It's very difficult to find out
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  what's happening. You'd have to come up
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  with a whole coastal monitoring system to
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  identify where these high phosphates,
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  high nitrates are coming in. And those
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  are the limiting factors to have this
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  algae grow. But really, sea surface
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  temperature increase, you can't control
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  unless you start to reduce climate
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  change, which is going to take along a very, very long time.
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  So this is a problem that's going to
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  happen more and more as we as climate
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  change gets worse or as climate change
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  continues to wreak its ugly head. And we
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  are going to have this problem. We are
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  going to see more animals die. We're
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  going to see the consequences in our
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  water systems, the consequences in our
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  shorelines, because we're going to see
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  den animals come in. We've seen it happen
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  in Florida where people go to the beach
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  during these times and this just smells of death. Not a human being.
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  It can affect people with breathing
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  problems. It can affect people in terms
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  of rotting flesh that's on the ground,
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  rotting skin, rotting animals. Not good
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  to breathe in. And it's something that we
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  have to monitor. We have to be careful
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  of. And we're not going to be able to go
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  to certain beaches at certain times
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  because of so much death happening and
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  water quality not being good.
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  Water quality is something that I feel
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  like here in North America, we take it
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  for granted. It's not something that once
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  it gets out of control, it's really
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  difficult to monitor. Not monitor, but to
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  kind of get back to normal because
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  especially in a large system like the
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  ocean, you just don't know
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  where things are coming from.
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  And so we have to make sure that we
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  control with what we can control and
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  control it now. That comes with
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  government action. That comes with
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  businesses and the private sector action.
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  And that comes with people really taking
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  climate change seriously, putting people
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  in, voting people in power that really
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  take climate change and reduction of
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  climate change seriously, because we are
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  going to see these
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  consequences all of the time.
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  Increase the surface temperatures
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  directly related to climate change. We're
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  seeing this increase all the time. And
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  this has happened four years in a row.
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  Democas is happening long. Like this
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  toxicity is happening longer and longer
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  every year. And this is not going to stop
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  until we get climate change under
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  control. Not a fun story to share. It's
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  not something that I wanted to share, but
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  it's something that I
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  feel like we need to watch.
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  We need to make sure that sea lions like
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  this one is, you know, under is safe and
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  it can enjoy eating sardines and eating
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  other and like fish like anchovies
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  without having to worry about being sick.
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  This is what they eat.
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  And, you know, we've protected sea lions
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  before with the man with the Magnus
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  Carter Carter law. I think it's the
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  fishing fisheries law that we have and
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  brought sea lions back together, which
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  helped bring great white shark
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  populations back. And these are animals
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  that we need to protect. And now that
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  there's a water quality issue, this is
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  really it's going to be a lot harder to
• 1:12:35
  protect. And we're really going to have
• 1:12:36
  to watch how we treat water quality in
• 1:12:40
  the future. And it's something that is
• 1:12:42
  not going to be easy to do because it works.
• 1:12:44
  Just a few things could
• 1:12:54
  be too different for..."
• 1:13:14
  we need to talk about because sometimes
• 1:13:16
  talking about the ocean and
• 1:13:17
  looking at ocean conservation
• 1:13:19
  is not easy and we have to attack it.
• 1:13:21
  Some of the things that you can do to
• 1:13:23
  make it better is stay
• 1:13:25
  informed, keep a rest of
• 1:13:26
  what's happening and local advisories
• 1:13:28
  about algal blooms and affected areas.
• 1:13:30
  You can volunteer at the Marine Mammal
• 1:13:32
  Center if they require
• 1:13:33
  it, if they need the help.
• 1:13:34
  You can support the rescue efforts by
• 1:13:36
  considering donating to the
• 1:13:37
  organizations like the Marine
• 1:13:39
  Mammal Care Center.
• 1:13:40
  And of course, you
• 1:13:40
  can advocate for change.
• 1:13:41
  So support policies aimed at reducing
• 1:13:43
  carbon emissions and controlling
• 1:13:45
  agricultural runoff.
• 1:13:47
  So every action counts.
• 1:13:48
  You don't have to just choose one.
• 1:13:50
  You can choose all of them, staying
• 1:13:51
  informed and staying involved.
• 1:13:53
  And then of course, we can all contribute
• 1:13:54
  to the health of our
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  oceans and the creatures
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  that inhabit them like sea lions,
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  dolphins and seabirds,
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  something those predators are
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  important to our ecosystem.
• 1:14:03
  It's important to keep those food webs
• 1:14:05
  healthy and maintain those to help
• 1:14:07
  maintain our coastlines
• 1:14:08
  and maintain the oceans health, which
• 1:14:10
  helps maintain our health.
• 1:14:12
  So that's it for today's episode.
• 1:14:13
  If you have any questions or comments and
• 1:14:14
  you're watching this on
• 1:14:15
  YouTube, leave a comment
• 1:14:16
  below.
• 1:14:17
  If you are wanting to get a hold of me,
• 1:14:19
  you can go to
• 1:14:20
  speakupforblue.com, fill out the
• 1:14:22
  contact page, go to speakupforblue.com
• 1:14:24
  forward slash contact,
• 1:14:26
  fill out the page, it goes
• 1:14:26
  right directly to my email or you can DM
• 1:14:28
  me on Instagram at how
• 1:14:30
  to protect the ocean.
• 1:14:31
  That's out at how to protect the ocean.
• 1:14:34
  So if you want to get a hold of me,
• 1:14:35
  here's the sheet so you can do so.
• 1:14:38
  But I want to thank you so much for
• 1:14:39
  listening to this episode
• 1:14:40
  of the how to protect the
• 1:14:41
  ocean podcast.
• 1:14:42
  Have a great day.
• 1:14:42
  We'll talk to you next
• 1:14:43
  time and happy conservation.