Monday April 7, 2025
Times Colonist —
B.C. scientists will be keeping a close eye on a toxic algae this summer as hundreds of sea lions, seabirds and dolphins have been washing up sick or dead on beaches in Southern California.
The toxin responsible for the deaths of Californian marine mammals is domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by certain marine algae.
Domoic acid is harmless to small fish and shellfish, but can be deadly for larger marine animals, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, which is monitoring local sea life such as sea otters and orcas to find out if the toxin is present.
Algae blooms with domoic acid aren’t a new phenomenon and occur in B.C. waters — particularly off Vancouver Island — in the spring and summer, but the amount of neurotoxin is increasing in blooms of algae off California.
DFO has been monitoring domoic acid in B.C. since 2016, without finding any serious threats to marine mammals and seabirds. But this mass mortality event in California has them on alert.