More Than 1,000 Chilean Sea-Lions Die of Hunger

[Annces]

By Sebastian Boyd

Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- More than 1,000 sea-lion pups have been found dead in the north of Chile, the country’s fishing authority said in an e-mailed statement.

The sea lions, most about six months of age, were starving and thirsty, the statement said. Sea lion mothers have been spotted as far as 100 nautical miles from the coast in areas where they don’t usually forage, which suggests they are struggling to feed their young, the statement said.

Chilean authorities plan to contact scientists at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to discuss a possible connection with the deaths of thousands of Californian sea lions since May. The problems in Chile may be related to El Nino, a weather phenomenon that disrupts fish stocks, which is unlikely to be the cause of the problems on the U.S. West Coast, Joe Cordero, a biologist with NOAA in Long Beach, California said in an interview yesterday.

“The bottom line is we don’t know why, but we do know it’s food related,” he said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a0LK734u8toY


(Sea Lions are dying by the hundreds in California, ongoing. Now adults are being found sick and starving). http://neptune911.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/update-on-california-sea-lion-pup-deaths/

[jwirr]

1. There was an article that links the change in rain/drought patterns not

to the El Nino but to climate change today. This is sad.