West Coast Sealife Disappearing – 11/04/2014

  • December 26, 2014 at 11:52 pm #3252
    Mike
    Keymaster

    Mysterious Phenomena’ off U.S. West Coast: Fish disappeared, whales nearly absent, no krill, high rates of egg failure among birds — California Fishermen: “There’s almost nothing there, just a lot of warm clear water”

    San Jose Mercury News, Nov. 2, 2014: Rare changes in wind patterns this fall have caused the Pacific Ocean off California and the West Coast to warm to historic levels, drawing in a bizarre menagerie of warm-water species. The mysterious phenomena are surprising fishermen… El Niño isn’t driving this year’s warm-water spike… Nor is climate change… All year [NOAA] scientists… have been forecasting an El Niño… But now the water is only slightly warmer than normal at the equator, leading scientists to declare a mild El Niño is on the way…

    The ocean changes also have affected birds. As ocean upwelling stalled in the summer, less krill and other food rose from the depths. As a result, several species of birds, including common murres, had high rates of egg failure on the Farallon Islands, 27 miles west of San Francisco.

    Jaime Jahncke, California Current Group director of Point Blue in Petaluma, Nov. 2, 2014: “The krill that is usually present disappeared, and the fish that some of these birds rely on disappeared… Up until July we had an abundance of whales around the Farallons, mostly humpback whales, and some blue whales. And when we went back in September, there was no krill and the whales were nearly absent.”

    Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Federation of Fishermen’s Associations in San Francisco, Nov. 2, 2014: “Our guys in Santa Barbara are saying there’s almost nothing down there. Just a lot of warm, clear water, a little bit of salmon and not much else.”

    Joe Welsh, associate curator of collecting for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Nov. 2, 2014: “It is an oddball year… There’s a lot to learn out there.”

    See also: Experts: Scary problems off California — Possibly “no food anywhere” along Pacific coast, except isolated areas — “Like crime scene investigation” in ocean — Certainly Fukushima is one of stresses to sea life — Dolphins, whales more likely to be bathed in radiation

    And: Gov’t Scientists: “Something very unusual occurring” off west coast of US, Canada — “Unprecedented in historical record” — “Will dramatically reduce productivity” in 6,500 sq. miles of ocean — Anomaly extends “across Pacific to Japan” — “Who knows what will happen?” (MAP)

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    2. SF Chronicle: “Unbelievable hordes” of fish near California coast; Most birds, sea lions, dolphins, whales anywhere — Expert: ‘Off the charts’ pelican population “highly unusual… could reflect breeding failures elsewhere”; “Abnormal ocean conditions” to blame? May 1, 2014

    3. Millions of fish found dead on California coast — 3 major fish kills in 2 weeks — Unidentified ‘goo’ floating nearby; Police clear out beach, call health officials to investigate (VIDEO) August 1, 2014

    4. Researchers predict west coast killer whales will exceed 1,000 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium — Over 10 times gov’t limit in Japan — Concern about harm to humans, sea life — Expert: People eating large amounts of fish may have levels similar to whales March 18, 2014

    5. ‘Ultra-Rare’: Up to 70 endangered ‘whales’ by California coast — Seen once in several decades, lives in open ocean — Breached as if performing, rubbing heads on boat — So loud thought it was engine — “Seemed to be speaking to camera” — Also spotted in Western Pacific same day (VIDEO) March 14, 2014

    November 4th, 2014 | Category: California, US, West Coast

    Source: http://enenews.com/mysterious-phenomena-off-west-coast-fish-disappeared-whales-nearly-absent-no-krill-high-rates-of-egg-failure-among-birds-official-theres-almost-nothing-down-there-just-a-lot-of-warm-c

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