Santa Cruz County seabird die-off linked to red tide, state officials say

Jennifer Squires

Sentinel staff writer

 

SANTA CRUZ -- Another wave of dead and sick seabirds washed up on Monterey Bay beaches this week, and state officials believe the birds' mysterious illness comes from the red tide.

Nearly 500 birds have been rescued since early November, according to state Department of Fish and Game senior veterinarian Dave Jessup.

State officials were initially baffled by the sick birds, which began washing up on area beaches just after an oil spill in the San Francisco Bay and the state's aerial spraying of Santa Cruz County to combat the light brown apple moth. They dubbed the die-off the Moss Landing Mystery Spill.

"At this point we believe it's related to the algal blooms," Jessup said Tuesday evening, referring to the recent red tide. "We have made considerable progress. It turns out it's not a fish oil or vegetable oil product, as well as not being a petroleum oil or the light brown apple moth spray."

Dead and sick surf scoters, loons and other near-shore birds began appearing on Watsonville-area beaches Nov. 10. A second die-off that started Saturday had killed or sickened about 130 birds by Tuesday afternoon, Jessup said. About 60 birds were rescued from local beaches on Tuesday alone.

"It's the worst in 10 years, easily," Jessup said of the die-off.

Red tides are an algae bloom that occur regularly on the Monterey Bay, but their severity and length varies.

"They are a natural phenomenon possibly aided by or exasperated by human activity" such as fertilizer and pesticide use, according to Jessup. The red tide which began in early November is circling the bay and is now off the coast of Santa Cruz for the second time.

The substance sickening the seabirds is a protein "surfactant," a water-soluble protein molecule that foams when it comes in contact with water, but state analysts are still trying to pinpoint the protein's source. It may be part of the bloom, related to the degradation of the algae or a byproduct of other things killed by the bloom.

The rusty-colored tide won't dissipate and birds will likely continue to fall sick until wind or a heavy rainfall flushes the algae from the bay, Jessup said.

County Environmental Health officials have issued a red tide warning on the county Web site, according to John Ricker, water resources division director at the Department of Environmental Health. It advises people that swimming and surfing in the red tide could cause illness, including respiratory problems, skin rashes, lethargy, eye irritation and gastro-intestinal illness.

"At this stage it's still sort of a low-level warning," Ricker said, adding he would like people sickened by the tide to contact the Environmental Health Department.

County officials have only had two official reports of illness linked to the red tide, according to Ricker.

"We've heard other stories second- or third-hand but we haven't gotten a lot of details," he said. "It's definitely something we're still tracking and trying to figure out what exactly's going on."

No beaches have been closed as a result of the red tide, and Ricker described the medical problems reported to his office as "more of a nuisance" than anything else.

"We are hearing that people have been experiencing respiratory issues when they're surfing," Jessup said. "Let's put it this way: I'm not going in the water for awhile."

Because the seabirds were not sickened by an oil spill or other human-caused incident, the Department of Fish and Game halted its bird rescue efforts Tuesday, but will continue to care for birds already brought to its facility at UC Santa Cruz's Long Marine Lab, Jessup said.

"We're not taking any new ones," he said, adding state officials will still be monitoring and researching the die-off.

Native Animal Rescue volunteers will continue to rescue birds and transport them to the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Fairfield for treatment.