For the fourth year in a row, the beginning of summer has brought on some toxins in the water that are being brought up the food chain and poisoning lots of marine life. We're seeing lots of dead sea lions, pelicans, and whales washing ashore and they all have one thing in common: they all eat anchovies!

This neurotoxin called demoic acid is created by some types of algae which can grow rapidly depending on ocean conditions and several other factors. We know that this year (2025) has been exceptionally bad so far in April. This neurotoxin gets into anchovies which eat algae and certain planktons that have demoic acid, then the larger animals that eat the anchovies get this toxin in them. While this toxin is naturally occurring, changes in climate and pollution caused by humans can easily increase the amount of demoic acid in the water. This year, Southern California experienced lots of fires which have contaminated the rivers which drain into the sea unfiltered, this is likely a major factor in this years event.

The animals we're seeing washing ashore are brown pelicans, humpback whales, minke whales, and common dolphin. All of those animals feed on anchovies. We are also seeing gray whales washing ashore which is a whole different issue since they don't eat anchovies at all, they actually don't feed on anything off the California Coast. The gray whales have been dying off since 2017 so we know their reasons are more associated with climate change and a lack of food because of the shrinking sea ice which is where they feed.