"What Is Happening to the Ocean?"... Thousands of Starved Seabird Carcasses Pile Up on Beaches

Seabird Carcasses Pile Up Along California Coast
Hot Seas and El Nino Leave Seabirds Short of Food
75% Chance of "Strongest El Nino on Record," Forecast

Carcasses are piling up as starving seabirds wash ashore in succession along the U.S. West Coast.

"Canaries in the Coal Mine"... Second Mass Die-Off of Seabirds

Seabirds gather at Morro Rock, a natural landmark in Morro Bay in central California. Photo for illustrative purposes. National Geographic.

On November 10 (local time), Yonhap News Agency, citing The New York Times (NYT), reported that "thousands of seabird carcasses have piled up along the coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles (LA), California, in recent months." After brown pelicans, cormorants and common murres died in large numbers amid a marine heatwave that made the ocean unusually warm this spring, a second mass die-off, primarily affecting common murres, began in the fall.

On a beach along the central coast, 1,900 dead seabirds and 750 seabirds in need of treatment have been found since September. That is 22 times the number recorded during the same period last year. A wildlife hospital in Morro Bay treated more seabirds this year than in any of the 40 years since it opened. It has rescued 924 common murres since September alone, most of which were reportedly weakened by starvation.

J.D. Bergeron, president of International Bird Rescue (IBR), invoked the phrase "canaries in the coal mine," meaning an early warning sign of danger, and said, "Seabirds are showing us signs that something is really wrong."

The exact cause remains unknown, but the birds are believed to have starved because of warmer seas driven by climate change, compounded by El Nino. El Nino is a phenomenon in which sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific rise above average. Common murres dive underwater to catch small fish. But as ocean temperatures have climbed to record levels, their prey have moved down into colder, deeper waters, apparently making it harder for the birds to find food.

El Nino Warms the Ocean... Damage Around the World Extends Beyond Seabirds

A bird rescued at Pacific Wildlife Care, a wildlife hospital in Morro Bay. Official website

A similar event occurred about 10 years ago. At the time, a marine heatwave coincided with El Nino, and salmon, sea lions and seabirds died in large numbers along the West Coast. A research team at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that about 4 million Alaskan common murres died between 2014 and 2016, when an unusually warm area of the northeastern Pacific known as the "warm blob" persisted. That was about half of the Alaskan common murre population.

The damage could grow worse in the future. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast a 98% chance that El Nino would reach the "very strong" level between October and December this year, and a 75% chance that it would be the strongest since records began in 1950. In preparation, California declared a state of emergency as early as September 21. Tammy Russell, a marine ecologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said, "As El Nino continues to raise ocean temperatures, more species are likely to be affected on a larger scale over the next few months."

Meanwhile, heavy rain has battered India and Nepal, while drought damage is worsening in South America. In El Salvador in Central America, temperatures in August were 4.3 degrees above average, leaving livestock hungry, while the Panama Canal reduced the number of ships allowed to pass because of low rainfall in its watershed. David Obura, chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), warned, "This El Nino is adding a frightening level of risk to coral reefs around the world."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.