STORY: California battles to save sea mammal victims of red tide
DATELINE: July 4, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:37
LOCATION: SAN PEDRO, U.S.
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT

SHOTLIST:
1. various of sea lions

STORYLINE:

Vacationers visiting beaches of U.S. state of California this July Fourth weekend are likely to encounter an alarming sight: sick sea lions recovering on the sand. Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) called it a large-scale stranding event.

Scientists suspected that it was caused by red tide, another name for an excessive bloom of certain phytoplankton -- tiny sea veggies that most fish and sea mammals feed on.

They noted that with global warming heating up California's waters, red tide has become a reoccurring problem off the coast, posing health concerns for much marine life, including sea lions, seals, otters, dolphins, and even whales.

The sick and dead wildlife started showing up in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties several weeks ago, and the numbers have since increased and spread to further southern counties including Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego.

More than 100 dolphins have died in the past several weeks, Justin Viezbicke, NOAA's California marine mammal stranding coordinator, told the Ventura County Star newspaper Saturday, adding that Southern California also reported "hundreds of sea lions coming ashore."

"Right now, we're responding to a massive number of animals affected by this harmful algal bloom," Dave Bader, the Marine Mammal Care Center (MMCC) Los Angeles' chief operations and education officer, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview Friday.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from San Pedro, U.S.
(XHTV)