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What Dead Seabirds Are Trying to Tell Us About the Pacific Ocean · How To Protect The Ocean

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  Thousands of seabirds are dying along California's coast, but the
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  birds aren't actually the story.
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  They're warning us that something much bigger is happening beneath
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  the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
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  This is the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, your weekly ocean news update.
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  If you care about staying informed on the ocean every single weekday,
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  Monday to Friday, hit that follow button right now on your podcast app
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  so you don't miss tomorrow's story.
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  Today, we're answering one question.
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  Why are seabirds starving and what does their struggle tell us about the
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  future of our oceans, especially with an impending super El Niño coming into play?
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  Now, if you've watched a pelican glide just above the waves or seen cormorants
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  diving for fish, it's easy to think they make hunting look effortless.
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  But right now, off the coast of California, many of those birds
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  can't find enough food to survive.
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  Scientists, volunteers, and wildlife rehabilitation centers are reporting
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  unusually high numbers of starving seabirds washing up on the beaches.
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  Some birds are so weak they walk ashore and die within minutes.
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  Others are turning up far inland, desperately searching for food in lakes
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  and reservoirs instead of the ocean.
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  The images are heartbreaking, and they also tell us something important.
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  These birds are acting like the ocean's warning lights.
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  They're showing us that the Pacific food web is under stress.
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  Every month, teams of scientists and volunteers walk California
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  beaches counting dead seabirds.
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  And it may sound like a strange job.
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  I mean, nobody really wants to do that.
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  It's pretty depressing.
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  But these surveys have been happening for decades.
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  The goal isn't to simply count dead birds.
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  It's to detect changes in health of the marine ecosystem before
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  they become impossible to ignore.
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  This year, those surveys have become much more alarming.
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  Researchers are finding large numbers of brown pelicans, loons,
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  grebs, cormorants, and other seabirds that died from starvation.
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  According to marine ornithologist Tammy Russell, some cormorants
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  have been observed walking onto shore and dying within fifteen
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  minutes because they were so weak.
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  That is a terrible thing to watch.
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  So what changed?
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  The answer isn't that the birds suddenly forgot how to walk.
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  The problem is the water.
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  A marine heatwave has lingered off parts of California's coast for months.
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  According to scientists, it's one of only three times on record that such
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  a large stretch of coastal water has stayed unusually warm for so long.
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  Several long-term monitoring stations have recorded record-breaking
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  temperatures for more than 40 days.
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  Warm water might not sound like a crisis.
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  It may sound actually quite nice 'cause people like to go in warm water.
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  Marine life often doesn't.
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  California's coastal ecosystem depends on cold, nutrient-rich
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  waters rising from the deep ocean.
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  That process, called upwelling, feeds tiny organisms like plankton and krill.
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  Those organisms feed anchovies and sardines.
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  These fish feed seabirds, sea lions, whales, dolphins, and even
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  people through commercial fisheries.
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  When the water stays unusually warm, many of those cold water fish move farther
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  offshore or deeper beneath the surface.
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  The birds can't always follow them.
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  Many seabirds have evolved to feed close to shore or near the surface.
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  If the food disappears, they burn through their energy reserves so quickly.
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  For many species, starvation can happen within just a few days.
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  Here's why this story is bigger than a few starving birds.
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  Seabirds are indicators.
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  Think of them as the ocean's health monitors, like the
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  canary in the coal mine in a way.
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  When they start struggling, it's often because something lower in
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  the food chain has already changed.
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  They're giving us an early warning.
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  Imagine removing the foundation from a building.
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  The roof doesn't just collapse immediately.
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  The crack appears first, and that's what we're seeing right now, the cracks.
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  If forage fish like sardines and anchovies become harder to find, the
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  impacts spread throughout the ecosystem.
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  Whales have to work harder to find food.
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  Sea lions have to travel farther.
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  Fish populations will shift.
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  Commercial fisheries will become less predictable.
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  Entire coastal economies can feel the effects.
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  And there's another concern.
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  Scientists say that this marine heatwave may become even more disruptive because
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  it's now overlapping with a newly formed El Niño, which might be a super El Niño.
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  Last month, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
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  NOAA, confirmed that El Niño has developed and forecasters expect
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  it to strengthen considerably.
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  El Niño naturally warms part of the Pacific Ocean.
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  When that natural warming is already added to unusually warm ocean waters, marine
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  ecosystems face even greater stress.
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  We've seen this before.
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  Many listeners may remember the Blob, the massive marine heatwave that stretched
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  across the Northeast Pacific between twenty thirteen and twenty sixteen.
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  I covered it quite regularly during those times when I had the podcast going.
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  That event triggered the one of the largest seabird die-offs ever recorded.
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  Years later, scientists estimated that more than four million common murres
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  died during that event, and some populations are still recovering today.
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  That's why researchers are paying such close attention now.
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  They don't want history to repeat itself.
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  The honest answer is that scientists don't yet know how
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  severe this event will become.
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  Not every dead seabird is dying because of the marine heatwave.
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  Young birds naturally experience high mortality after leaving the nests.
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  Researchers are also testing birds for diseases like avian influenza,
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  and looking for other contributing factors.
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  But the timing is difficult to ignore.
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  The increase in starving birds lines up closely with one of the
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  longest-lasting marine heatwaves ever recorded along California's coast.
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  Scientists will continue to monitor ocean temperatures.
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  They'll track fish movements.
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  They'll analyze seabird populations, and they'll compare today's observations
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  with decades of historical records.
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  Those long-term monitoring programs are incredibly valuable.
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  Without them, this story might simply look like a few unfortunate birds on the beach.
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  Instead, scientists can place today's observations into a much bigger picture.
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  Another important point is what we see on the beach is only part of the story.
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  Most birds that die at sea never get washed ashore.
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  It's almost like when we see the North Atlantic right whales, when we see an
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  entangled whale that washes up to shore.
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  A lot of those whales we don't actually see because they ended up
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  drowning and they end up dying at sea, and we never end up seeing them.
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  The same thing is happening with these seabirds.
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  That means the birds people are finding likely represent only a small fraction of
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  the actual mortality happening offshore.
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  It's a reminder that the ocean often hides its problems.
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  We usually don't notice them until it's impossible to ignore.
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  The encouraging news is that these stories like this help scientists improve
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  forecasting, understand the ecosystem responses, and prepare conservation
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  managers for future marine heatwaves.
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  The better we understand these events, the better we can adapt fisheries management,
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  protect critical habitats, and strengthen the resilience of marine ecosystems.
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  The starving seabirds along California's coast aren't just
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  victims of a changing oceans.
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  They're messengers.
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  They're showing us what happens when warming waters reshape entire
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  food webs from the bottom up.
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  If we pay attention to those signals today, we'll be prepared for
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  the changes that are still ahead.
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  The problem is, is our governments, are they paying attention?
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  Yesterday, I just talked about how Canada will not meet its targets for being
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  under forty to forty-five percent under the two thousand and five greenhouse
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  gases, and that's above those targets, and that's just not acceptable.
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  But we have to change things because politically, the world is changing from
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  an economic standpoint, and that's affecting our environmental policies.
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  And now here we have messengers along the California coast, and it's not just
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  about the US getting the messengers It's about the entire world getting the message
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  that things are shifting in the ocean.
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  Food is going elsewhere for certain predators.
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  Those predators have to travel farther, and those predators are
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  dying because of it, and it's going to change our ecosystems to a
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  point where it's going to affect us.
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  If we don't act now or tomorrow or the day after or even yesterday,
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  then we are in trouble in the future.
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  It just makes sure that we are going to see the effect every
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  time we ignore something like this sooner and sooner and sooner.
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  But that's the message for today, is like we have to figure out what we
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  are going to do with this message.
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  We have to make sure that our political representatives figure out
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  what to do with this message, and we have to tell them what we want.
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  We have to tell them what you want.
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  If you're listening to this and you want your government representative
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  to change its mind or focus on the environment and the economy together,
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  then we're in for a better future, and that's what we need to look at.
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  So I'm not trying to say which party to support.
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  What I say is support environment and economic policies together
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  so that we can actually see a better planet in the future.
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  That's it for today's episode.
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  Hit me up with any questions or comments or anything like that.
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  Social media site links are in the show notes.
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  Also in the show notes is a link to support the work that I do here
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  on the podcast, on YouTube, on TikTok, on Instagram, and all the
• 8:29
  Facebook and all the social media.
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  I put out a lot of content, and if you wanna support that content, a few
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  people ask me for links to support.
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  You can do that at my Patreon.
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  Go to speakupforblue.com/patreon.
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  That's speakupforblue.com/patreon.
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  I wanna thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of
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  the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.
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  Have a great day.
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  We'll talk to you next time, and happy conservation.