By
Sandy Mazza, Daily Breeze
Posted: 06/20/15, 4:33 PM PDT | Updated: 2 hrs ago
... The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association?s fisheries service sent the team out last week on the nearly three-month mission after two major fisheries were shut down because so many animals got severe domoic acid poisoning after eating neurotoxins embedded in the unusually large bloom of this naturally occurring algae.
The lucrative coastal Dungeness crab fishery in Washington closed, forcing fishers to try to find the shellfish further offshore or to land other species.
Razor clams also are off limits in Washington and Oregon.
Shellfish and coastal fin species such as sardines and anchovies have been found with domoic acid levels more than five times the limit for human consumption in California, Oregon and Washington. Alaskan researchers are investigating whether
nine recent fin whale deaths are related to the poisonous plankton.
Californians have been advised to
steer clear of all anchovies and sardines, as well as recreationally harvested mussels and clams fished in Monterey or Santa Cruz counties. The internal organs of crabs ? also known as ?crab butter? ? should be avoided, according to the state Department of Public Health.
The West Coast is in the midst of the most prolific toxic algal outbreak ever recorded, said Vera Trainer, manager of the Marine Biotoxin Program at NOAA?s Northwest Fisheries Science Center.
?We saw the first sea lion having seizures because of this toxin a couple weeks ago on a Washington beach,? Trainer said. ?All the signs are pointing to this being a really unusual event that is very widespread. That?s the reason we sent folks on the National Marine Fisheries cruise to document the offshore occurrences? of the toxins...
