Marine mammals on the coast of California are currently suffering unprecedented devastation and mass-death due to an ongoing harmful algal bloom (or HAB, as Heal the Bay calls it) that is tragic evidence of the worsening climate emergency produced by industrial capitalism.
LAist cites expert sources warning that the crisis “likely” represents “Southern California’s worst toxic algae outbreak ever.” Dr. Clarissa Anderson, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, reported in early May 2025 that “we’re at about 1200 mammals total that have stranded between about San Luis Obispo and San Diego” over the previous 3 months. According to Heal the Bay, the HAB crisis has spread as far south as Baja California, and as far north as central California. Sea lions, dolphins, and seabirds have all been affected; even whales belonging to multiple species are stranding themselves on beaches and succumbing soon thereafter. On May 10th, in an effort to reduce risks to human health, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a “restriction” on fishing (and consuming) Pacific sardines off the coast of southern California.
The specific culprit for this marine-life crisis appears to be mass-poisoning by domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by Pseudo-nitzschia algae. Due to the vast size of the ongoing HAB, the risks posed by the domoic-acid crisis are profound. Consumed by fish, the toxin bioaccumulates as one rises in the food chain, hence putting the health of predatory mammals and birds at risk. When poisoned by domoic acid, mammals can become confused, disoriented, lethargic, and even aggressive; they can suffer seizures, fall into comas, strand themselves, and die. Whereas about half of affected sea lions can recover with timely and proper treatment, nearly all stranded dolphins poisoned by domoic acid die. The scale of the current crisis has shocked rescue organizations like the Marine Mammal Care Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Alissa Deming, from the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, poignantly comments: “This is the worst domoic acid bloom we have seen in Southern California. The amount of animals suffering and the strandings that we’re seeing related to this bloom is absolutely heartbreaking.”
What, then, explains the devastating scope of the current HAB? To begin with, the Earth’s oceans are far warmer and more acidic now, compared to pre-industrial times. In fact, the oceans are bearing the brunt of global warming (otherwise known as global heating or climate change) and, in effect, delaying the worst effects of global overheating for terrestrial life. In its latest assessment report (2021), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds that the world’s oceans have actually absorbed over 90% of the heating sustained since the Industrial Revolution. The Pseudo-nitzschia algae emitting the domoic acid that is poisoning marine wildlife specifically benefit from the increasingly acidic and overheated oceans induced by the mass-carbon emissions powering capitalist society.
Moreover, it is entirely plausible that this disastrous HAB was exacerbated or outright induced by all the ash and debris that were deposited in the Pacific Ocean during and after the catastrophic wildfires suffered in January 2025 in Los Angeles. Based on past experience, marine biologists know that the nitrogen and phosphorus released during wildfires often fuel HABs—a phenomenon known as “overfeeding.” Indeed, the New York Times reports that researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have been studying possible links between the LA fires and the present HAB, yet the Trump regime is actively undermining the ability of NOAA and other independent federal agencies to inform and update the public about environmental health news.
Scientifically speaking, it is apparent that marine mammals in California are currently bearing the brunt of a toxic brew of a HAB resulting from some combination of global overheating, ocean acidification, and unprecedented run-off from the LA fires. However, these animals are also suffering from the dominant socio-political and economic systems of capitalism and authoritarianism. There is little doubt that President Donald Trump—the man who has withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, installed as head of the Environmental Protection Agency a corporate polluter who is overseeing mass-layoffs, ordered the clear-cutting of national forests, incited disregard of the Endangered Species Act, and accepted a $400-million bribe in the form of a new jumbo-jet from Qatar’s petro-dictators—can only be expected to degrade the biosphere in spectacular fashion, thus asphyxiating the chance for a livable future.
After all, let us recall that Trump, in his manic search for a scapegoat for the LA fires, blamed the ferocity of the blazes on California’s water-management system. (This was in parallel to his and Elon Musk’s heterosexist and racist incitement against LA City officials.) Trump falsely claimed that there was “no water for fire hydrants” once the fires broke out, ostensibly because of measures taken at the state level to protect “an essentially worthless fish [sic] called a [delta] smelt”—which is, notably, an endangered species protected by federal law. Trump’s narcissism and lack of understanding led him to announce the needless discharge of billions of gallons of reservoir waters in California in response. As a reminder, this all took place during winter—that is, during the (supposed) wet season. That these reservoirs, located in the state’s Central Valley, do not even connect to the aqueduct serving Southern California was irrelevant to the president’s decision-making process. So was the incontestable reality that his gruesome mantra of “Drill, baby, drill!” only increases the risk of further future climate disasters like the LA wildfires.
The marine wildlife currently suffering and dying on California’s coasts is today’s canary in the coalmine for the global climate system. These animals’ plight is a visceral reminder of the planet’s emergent need for a just transition beyond capitalism, fossil fuels, and globalized ecocide, toward a “cooperative commonwealth” that is democratic, egalitarian, ecologically balanced, and respectful of all suffering beings. With this imperative goal in mind, the reconstructive green-syndicalist proposal of uniting workers with environmentalists remains as relevant and promising as ever.