San Diego, California – A troubling wave of dolphin deaths has struck the San Diego coastline, raising alarms among scientists and marine rescue organizations. Over the past few weeks, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has recovered more than a dozen dolphins carcasses from beaches stretching across the region — the most recent found Friday morning near Belmont Park in Mission Beach.
Experts believe the cause is domoic acid poisoning , a neurotoxin produced by harmful algae blooms. Clarissa Anderson, director of the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, confirmed that unusually high concentrations of the toxin have been detected far earlier than normal. “The entire Pacific, at least along the California coast, is being impacted,” Anderson said.
While these toxic blooms usually emerge in the spring or summer, researchers began seeing elevated levels as early as December. Anderson attributes this anomaly to La Niña conditions, which bring nutrient-rich, cold upwelled waters to the surface — a recipe for explosive algae growth. “It’s higher in nutrients this year than it has been in a long, long time,” she noted…