Experts say what makes this year’s algae bloom significant is that it has sickened different animals compared to years past. “It does not look like we are close to seeing the end of this bloom yet,” Clarissa Anderson with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said. Anderson said the al gae bloom was first reported in late February. “I actually have a truck out right now that is headed to Coronado to rescue an animal we believe has Domoic Acid toxicity,” Jeni Smith with SeaWorld San Diego said. Since then, Sea World said they’ve rescued 47 sea lions, 30 birds, and one dolphin. “We’re now in April and we have hundreds and hundreds of sea lions now and dolphins on the roster of animals that have stranded, live or dead,” Anderson said. Anderson said in 2023, the algae impacted more than one thousand California sea lions, and over one hundred dolphins. “We’re probably going to surpass those numbers,” Anderson said. She said the algae producing the toxin is common in the ocean, but scientists are trying to figure out what exactly turns on its toxicity. “This year is a little different in that it’s a little early in the year and we’re seeing impacts from shellfish through the food web up to sea lions, long beaked common dolphins, sea birds. And so it’s sort of a full blown event in that we have human health advisories on the shellfish end and then ecosystems impacts on the marine mantle side,” Anderson said. They said the longer it goes on, the more likely it is to get into fish, and then animals like sea lions and dolphins are eating those fish and getting sick. Since the harmful algae has gone on so long, now there’s even a shellfish advisory. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less