Guardian: Pacific Ocean 'turning into a desert' off California — Experts: Entire generation of baby sea lions is dying; It’s incredible, it’s so unusual and there’s no good explanation for it; Expect same thing to happen again next year — Carts filled with emaciated dead bodies (PHOTOS)
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evidence that climate change is involved. (CAPTION: A cart of deceased malnourished and dehydrated sea lions)
Shawn Johnson, Marine Mammal Center head veterinarian, Mar 20, 2015: “We’re having a tsunami of sea lions… it’s been incredible.” — Ira Flatow, host: “I’m getting a mental picture of the beaches just littered with these sea lions up and down the coast, is that correct?” — Johnson: “Yes. Especially down toward the southern part of California. There literally are sea lions on every beach… The lucky ones are making it to the beaches where we can find them”… — Flatow: “Are all the little pups going to die? A great number of them? Are you going to see no next generation, is it that dire?” — Johnson: “Yes, yes… The biologists out on the rookeries are saying that a whole cohort of these pups, thousands and thousands, are not surviving.”
The Guardian, May 7, 2015: The [sea lion pup] influx… is abating, but experts have warned of a repeat next year unless the Pacific Ocean swiftly cools… “It’s dropped off but we’re still receiving sea lions,” said Laura Scherr, of the Marine Mammal Center… “They’re coming in very emaciated – really just a bag of bones near death”… leaving them vulnerable to pneumonia, parasites and other ailments, she said. “They’re very sick“… The number of pups coming ashore has fallen [said Viezbicke]… The reduction reflected the finite number of sea lions, not improving conditions, he said. “There are only so many pups that are born.” Viezbicke said there were no estimates for how many had died.
Are the numbers ‘abating’ or ‘falling’? NOAA’s latest data shows 215 in the first 5 days of May — 43 per day, on pace to be the worst month on record. Yet the actual strandings are even higher; NOAA totals appear to only include pups taken to care centers, not total strandings:
- Viezbicke: “[This number doesn’t even represent all the strandings] because a lot of the animal centers are at capacity, they’ve been leaving the animals on the beach… The numbers are a low representation of what’s coming in.”
- Peter Wallerstein of Marine Animal Rescue: “We have to leave a lot on the beach… The care center would probably euthanize them if we brought them.”
What about ‘experts’ who warn the only hope of this ending is for the Pacific to ‘swiftly cool’?
- Nate Mantua, NOAA: “[An unusually large number of sea lions stranding in 2013 was a red flag] there was a food availability problem even before the ocean got warm.”
- Johnson: This has never happened before… It’s incredible. It’s so unusual, and there’s no really good explanation for it.
Full NPR interview with Johnson here
Published: May 17th, 2015 at 7:41 pm ETBy ENENews |