The Mystery of Masses of Dead Birds along the West Coast

The media pondered and interviewed as many ignorant and clueless people they could find and still were unable to fathom the mystery. Fingers point to a wide range of culprits ranging from starvation because all the fish left, carcasses of dead whales rotting, a major bird virus, the left over radiation fallout from the Fukushima nuclear plant of half a decade ago or several other dire predictions.

After predicting a massive “die off” of all marine life due to the massive death of birds all along the West Coast, NBC News finally talked to a scientist a month later. There came a totally different cause for the widespread death; a uniquely natural occurrence that could plague the ocean for a long time:

Toxic Algae May Threaten West Coast Marine Economy for Years… the toxic bloom could last through 2016, said Raphael Kudela, a professor of ocean ecology at the University of California Santa Cruz… “that would be pretty much unprecedented to have blooms two years in a row.” The size of the bloom and the amount of time it has lasted in the ocean are already unprecedented… Scientists had previously believed that domoic acid was water soluble—meaning that it could be flushed out of the bodies of animals that ingested it, Kudela said. But researchers have since observed domoic acid building up in the tissues of fish… the toxin may be spreading to a wider array of marine life than they had previously thought was possible. “That really suggests that it is really going to work its way through the food web,” Kudela told CNBC… [Dan Ayres, a coastal shellfish lead biologist with the Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife] said that if ocean waters remain warm in future years—the effects could be severe and impact the whole ocean food web.

Source: NBC News

With so many man-made distasters, it appears the natural world actually culled the animal population a bit. Note that the experts understand this. It has negative impacts on fishing and tourism and the natural habitat, but it will eventually straighten out.  It all has a natural ebb and flow. However, it is yet to be seen how that tide of toxins will effect humans directly.

Or, is this a Fukushima effect and NBC is just vomiting propaganda? Someone needs to go take water samples to find out!