It seems that sea lions and Dolphins are washing up in California. They don't seem to know the exact reason for it. But they do say that the rains have caused trash and toxins to be washed out to sea. They also said it could be tied to warmer oceans caused by El Nino. But they don't really know why.
See more at the link https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/si...cid=spartanntp
Excerpt:
Last month, 20 dead dolphins were found along the California coast, a much higher number than experts have seen compared with previous years, said Justin Viezbicke, a stranding coordinator with NOAA. That’s higher than the total number of dead dolphins found statewide in 2017 and 2018 combined.
In Orange County, 10 dolphins have been found dead or dying since the beginning of the year — four in the last week. In Los Angeles County, two dying dolphins were found stranded on beaches, a “very unusual” count for the area so early in the year, according to the Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles.
Reports of the stranded dolphins and sea lion rescues have come as the state is experiencing an unusually wet year, with consecutive storms washing trash and toxins into the ocean.
Necropsy results have yet to come in, but Viezbicke thinks the dolphin beachings have something to do with this year’s rain, which has pounded the state in recent months with a series of atmospheric river-fueled fronts.
It’s possible the storm runoff that washes waste into the ocean has caused a stronger bloom of poisonous algae, which produce a toxin responsible for neurological disorders, Higuchi said. Sickness caused by the algae blooms can cause seizures, which affected three of the dolphins found recently in Southern California.