Sea lions didn't exhibit gunshot wounds

Marine biologists say domoic acid outbreaks in Southern California have decreased since the last few years
Specialists said they did not find evidence of gunshot wounds in two sea lions that washed up on the Seal Beach shore last week.
Last Wednesday, lifeguards had reported what they thought were small bullet holes in the carcasses found on the north and south sides of the pier.
Once lifeguards called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for an investigation, the pinnipeds were then hauled off to the Marine Mammal Center in San Pedro for a necropsy to determine the cause of the deaths.
Dr. Lauren Palmer, a veterinarian for the center, said there were no signs that the holes were caused by bullets, after inspecting the badly decomposed bodies last week.
“I found no evidence that they were shot,” Palmer said.
NOAA spokesman Jim Milbury confirmed humans did not cause the sea lion deaths.
“From the outside, you see a bullet hole when in the ex-rays the hole going in would be perfectly round. But it turned out to be splintered,” Milbury said. “It was definitely not human cause.”
Instead, biologists have not ruled out the cause to be from domoic acid poisoning from toxic algae, which Palmer said commonly occurs during spring and could continue throughout the year.
Sardines, anchovies and shellfish often feed off of the bio-toxic phytoplankton and then are consumed by the larger predators such as sea lions, seals, dolphins and birds far off the coast, causing many to be poisoned, ending up dead on nearby shores more frequently in the last five to 10 years.
Although Palmer said the two sea lions were too decomposed to determine if they were infected with domoic acid, this year the amount of poisonings in marine life has actually decreased.
Only about 15 dead sea lions from Long Beach and other beaches off of Southern California have shown up in recent weeks, she said.
“We have not seen nearly as many animals as in the past,” Palmer said. “There were a lot more last year and even more the year before.”
Officials say when 40 to 50 marine mammals start showing up on the coast then it is time to worry.
In 2006, the blooms came earlier and killed more sea life than previous years, with more than 36 sea lions found dead on Orange County beaches. The state also issued a quarantine on clams and mussels due to the outbreak of toxic algae blooms that year.
The phytoplankton produces the toxin, which is a natural process, Palmer said.
But just what exactly is causing the phytoplankton to produce the toxin is not determined.
“It looks like it might be nutrient related, or also could be caused by upwelling,” she said.
Some marine mammals could be affected by recent outbreaks, were others could have been suffering from long-term effects that cause seizures and brain damage in the mammals over time, Palmer said.
Domoic acid was first identified in 1991 in samples of mussels, razor clams and other seafood at several locations along the pacific coast, including California.
But no known cases of human poisoning from this toxin are known to have occurred, according to officials.