
Sick marine mammals turning up on California beaches - petethomas
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pmmc-rescued-animals-20190308-story.html
======
todd3834
Lifelong surfer here, pollution from storm drains doesn’t take a scientific
study to see. It’s discusting out there after it rains and it seems like it
gets worse and worse. I used to surf after it rained all the time but these
days I just can’t risk it anymore. So much trash, dead animals, condoms it’s
gross.

~~~
tokyodude
I am curious about the opposite. December 2017 I was staying on the New Port
Beach peninsula in So Cal and the water was clearer then I think I've ever
seen anywhere in the entire world. I grew up in the OC and have been to or by
the beach 100s of times, I had never seen it so clear. Any idea why? Is it
common? Was it fluke? Is it seasonal? Has something changed?

Picture: [https://i.imgur.com/9WFTldz.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/9WFTldz.jpg)

You could walk half way down Balboa Pier and still clearly see the bottom of
the ocean. I don't think I'd ever seen the bottom of the ocean through waves
in any beach in So Cal ever. Never thought of it as dirty so much as just
normal for sea water.

~~~
pvaldes
Not easy to say without chemically analyzing the water. Oceanographers deal
with this questions all the time

Roughly speaking, clear water means less life, less phytoplancton. The algae
had gone. Is registered in lakes when water turns more acidic by
contamination. They appear pristine, but is an ilusion. The ecosystem is very
ill.

At sea this can normally indicate a different water mass by natural processes.
Different salinity or temperature, a change on winds, barometric pressure, or
sea currents can change this. Is totally normal.

And this could happen also when trowing signifiant amounts of something that
kills microscopic life to the water (chlorine to pipelines for example).

------
zaroth
I think it’s interesting that it’s tragic when cute animals die in small
numbers due to totally natural causes, and totally irrelevant when non-cute
animals die by the millions due to human infrastructure.

To the north and to the south of this particular data point, mammal rescues
are normal.

Normal (El Nino) weather patterns seem to explain why these young animals may
be having trouble finding food. And while plenty of spectres are thrown about
like toxic algae and pollution from storm runoff, no data are actually
provided, which IMO is beneath journalistic standards.

~~~
csmeder
On a some what similar topic: the amount of killing and hunting (rabbits,
moles, mice and other small mammals) that happens when we grow produce. Add to
that the destruction of a previously thriving eco system of small mammals,
insects and lizards that is caused by the vast mono crop method used by most
conventional farmers. And you end up with questions about the ethics of a
plant based diet (at least one that is based on our conventional methods of
large scale farming).

On the surface it would seem that a diet that includes meat from free range
(non feed lot) cattle would result in less death (by numbers) and less
destruction of natural habitat than a 100% plant based diet (even a small
organic farm practices eco system destruction to plant its non mono crops and
I assume practices animal trapping/hunting?). Which maybe is fine with some
vegans but I think a large percentage don’t consider this. In particular the
amount of poison and traps that are used to kill small mammals to produce each
pound of carrots, broccoli or other plant life.

~~~
cageface
Most of the grain grown in the USA is fed to livestock. If you are concerned
about the impact of agriculture on the environment the single best thing you
can do is eat lower on the food chain.

The number of small animals killed to feed one person a carnivore diet is far
far more than it takes to feed that person a plant based diet.

~~~
justtopost
Grass fed beef addresses both. You don't need to be so brash.

~~~
lprubin
Another factor to consider with cows is large scale cattle farming, grass fed
or not, releases huge amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere. Methane gas
is estimated to be 28[1] times worse for climate change than C02.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_methane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_methane)

------
subpixel
A lot of pollution is 'out of site, out of mind'.

I've had two run-ins with basic runoff pollution, swimming in the ocean Brazil
and Sri Lanka. In both cases I swam out a few meters and into a mass of
garbage: diapers, plastic bags, crisp bags etc.

I remember thinking if it's happening here, it's happening everywhere.

------
lota-putty
Humans turned out as masterminds at both trashing the only planet with rich
life and treating the sick on it.

"No rain drop thinks it's responsible for the flood...nor does it care."

~~~
o10449366
"Modern problems require modern solutions."

I was reading Michael Pollan's famous "Unhappy Meals" essay the other day and
I was struck by this paragraph:

"It might be argued that, at this point in history, we should simply accept
that fast food is our food culture. Over time, people will get used to eating
this way and our health will improve. But for natural selection to help
populations adapt to the Western diet, we’d have to be prepared to let those
whom it sickens die. That’s not what we’re doing. Rather, we’re turning to the
health-care industry to help us “adapt.” Medicine is learning how to keep
alive the people whom the Western diet is making sick. It’s gotten good at
extending the lives of people with heart disease, and now it’s working on
obesity and diabetes. Capitalism is itself marvelously adaptive, able to turn
the problems it creates into lucrative business opportunities: diet pills,
heart-bypass operations, insulin pumps, bariatric surgery. But while fast food
may be good business for the health-care industry, surely the cost to society
— estimated at more than $200 billion a year in diet-related health-care costs
— is unsustainable."

Unfortunately, I see a lot of parallels between food, health, and nutrition
and our approach to climate change, too. Every year we incur more and more
costs associated with climate change. Entire cities are destroyed, thousands
die, and millions more slowly become more and more sick. The costs are truly
unsustainable, but the root problems are never addressed. Instead, the homes
are simply rebuilt and the cycle continues. We're committing self-destruction
as a species. We don't deserve to find another Earth if we can't sustain this
one.

------
kaiku
I've seen this more where I'm from, too. Our underwater ecosystem is
collapsing. Their world must be like some of our smog-choked, acid rain
hellscapes, if not moreso and even more acute.

~~~
jboggan
I freedive and spearfish in that underwater ecosystem on a weekly basis
between Malibu, Santa Monica, and Palos Verdes. It's fine, much cleaner than
the wilderness around there on land.

As for the article, it's an interesting data point but who knows, there is a
lot we are still learning about the ecosystem. There's clearly some strange
patterns this year - warm currents have been bringing up large tuna to just
off of Long Beach and that may be affecting plankton and bacterial
populations, especially with the organics from the rain runoff seeding the
waters. Domoic acid poisoning is a natural phenomenon but it's no joke.

~~~
contingencies
How did you get in to spearfishing? I saw it in a sailing video recently and
it appeals as far more interesting and time-efficient than traditional
fishing. Can you recommended any media?

~~~
jboggan
Through another friend in tech - it's good to have someone to show you the
ropes because there is a lot of tribal knowledge. YouTube and forums are
somewhat of a help but most of what I've learned is from listening at the
spear shop or going on public charter trips and listening to the elders.

This guy has my favorite spearfishing YouTube channel -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0tqvgU_8Qg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0tqvgU_8Qg)

~~~
contingencies
Cheers will take a look. Fantasizing about sailing before all the coral dies.

------
glup
I heard from someone at Whole Foods yesterday that Oregon and Washington are
recalling (some) Dungeness crab because of domoic acid levels -- I wonder if
that is related.

~~~
brm
According to the Oregon Department of Agriculture:

Commercial evisceration zones and orders

Oregon crab: Crab containing viscera harvested from zone K are under an
evisceration order effective 12:01 a.m. February 11, 2019, due to elevated
levels of domoic acid in the crab viscera. Crab harvested from zones J and L
are under an evisceration order effective 12:01 a.m. February 14, 2019, as a
buffer zones to zone K. See the link below called Evisceration orders and
recall information for details.

California crab: Crab containing viscera harvested from California waters are
under an evisceration order effective 12:01 a.m. January 15, 2019, due to
elevated levels of domoic acid in the crab viscera. This remains in effect
until further notice.

[https://www.oregon.gov/oda/programs/foodsafety/shellfish/pag...](https://www.oregon.gov/oda/programs/foodsafety/shellfish/pages/crabbiotoxininfo.aspx)

Is it related? Looks likely, but not directly quantifiable:

 _Domoic acid is a naturally occurring biotoxin that does not present danger
in small quantities. It becomes dangerous when it is present in large
quantities. While we are uncertain of the causes of the influx of domoic acid
in our oceans, scientists are researching possible causes for the increased
levels. Possible contributing factors include global climate change,
eutrophication from fertilizers, agricultural and urban runoff, aquaculture
activity, coastal development and consequently the increased exposure to
waters and foods contaminated by domoic acid._
[https://www.oceansoffun.org/domoic_acid_poisoning](https://www.oceansoffun.org/domoic_acid_poisoning)

 _The increasing frequency and geographic extent of toxic algal blooms along
populated coastlines is generally attributed to human activities_
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2996450/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2996450/)
1\. Parsons ML, Dortch Q, Turner RE. Sedimentological evidence of an increase
in Pseudo-nitzschia (Bacillariophyceae) abundance in response to coastal
eutrophication. Limnol Oceanogr. 2002;47:551–558. 2\. Hallegraeff GM. A review
of harmful algal blooms and their apparent global increase. Phycologia.
1993;32:79–99.

------
pvaldes
What about sea birds?

~~~
pvaldes
This is an important point so I will repeat it. Maybe somebody in the area has
info about what is happening with sea birds?

