Post-la ocean tests find contaminants high enough for a sick sea life

Levels of lead and other heavy metals have increased in coastal waters off Los Angeles after the fires in January, raising serious long -term health concerns of fish, marine mammals and the marine food chain, according to the results of tests published Thursday by the non -profit environmental group Heal the Bay.

For human surfers and swimmers, the results were somewhat encouraging. The sampled water contaminants were not high enough to pose likely health risks to recreational beach.

But seawater tests were collected before and after the heavy rains that came at the end of January, after the fires decreased, identified five heavy metals – Béryllium, Copper, Chrome, Nickel and Lead – levels significantly above Security threshold established for marine life.

Even at relatively low concentrations, these metals can damage cells and disrupt reproduction and other biological processes in marine animals.

The metals also accumulate in the tissues of the animals exposed to them, then go up the food chain because these organisms are eaten by larger ones.

“Most of these metals are easy to transfer food on the web and have an impact on humans directly or indirectly, via food or drinking water,” said Dimitri Deheyn, marine biologist with the San Diego Institution of Oceanography.

All are in dust and rocks, and are not harmful in the context of these meticulous and natural exhibitions.

“This is why these elements are dangerous,” said Deheyn. “Our body is designed to take them, but we are generally exposed to a small quantity.”

January 24 and January 25 – before the rain that came the following week – healing the bay staff collected seawater samples from eight locations along the coast in or near the burn scar of the palisades, in addition to controlling the samples well outside the burning zone of Paradise Cove in Malibu and Malaga Cove in the fields of Palos Verde.

They removed additional samples on January 28, after the first major storm in months fell half a pump of rain in the Los Angeles basin and debris rinsed in the sea.

They Tested for 116 pollutants. The vast majority were not present or detected in tiny quantities in almost all samples taken.

But the levels of beryllium, copper, chromium, nickel and lead were two to four times higher than the maximum authorized by the law of the state of California in Big Rock Beach in Malibu, where the wreck of several destroyed houses lengthen.

“This is not surprising because this is where we have Burned debris in the high tide line(Where) Every minute of each day, the ocean is more and more contaminating in the sea, “said Heal The Bay, the CEO of Bay, Tracy Quinn.

At the Santa Monica pier and Dockweiler Beach, which are both south of the burn scar, lead and chrome levels were roughly tripled the California safety threshold for marine life. At the location of the Santa Monica test after the rains, the level of beryllium – a toxic metal for fish and corals and causes respiratory distress in humans – was more than 10 times the maximum authorized limit.

A more in -depth study is necessary to determine whether the contaminants linked to the fire come together in these areas or if the high levels come from another source of pollution, said Quinn.

“We do not recommend that people consume fish taken in Santa Monica bay right now,” said Quinn.

The levels of these first results suggest that more tests are justified, said Susanne Brander, an associate professor and ecotoxicologist at Oregon State University.

“Whenever there is a large fire in residential forest, this is the kind of contamination you will see,” she said. “I would look at these results and say, ok, we have to test the floors, we have to test drinking water.”

Quinn noted several limitations in Heal The Bay’s Data. The samples were taken at the end of January and may not be representative of the current ocean conditions. There is also no reference data showing conditions of preserving in the same field to which they could compare their samples, because there are no regular test programs for these contaminants, she said.

The organization also sampled 25 different polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, organic compounds which are formed during oil, wood or garbage burns. The organization provides results in the coming weeks, said Quinn.

The fires of January and the heavy rains that followed sent unprecedented quantities of ashes, debris and chemical residues in the sea via the huge region of Los Angeles Storm drains network And the rivers bordered by concrete.

Eaton palisades and fires burned more than 40,000 acres and destroyed at least 12,000 buildings. During the months that followed their bursting, the leftovers of cars, plastics, batteries, household chemicals and other potentially toxic materials continued to wash in the sea And on the beaches.

“I do not think there is a precedent for this type of contribution in the ocean ecosystem,” said Marine Biologist Noelle Bowlin in January.

In addition to fire contamination, California’s marine life is also threatened with an epidemic of domoic acid, a neurotoxin released by certain species of seaweed.

Hundreds of animals have washed sick or dead along the southern and central coasts of California in recent weeks, in the Fourth Domoic Acid event in as many years.

While nutrients such as sulfate and phosphorus that feed harmful algae were part of the substances that fires released in the sea, the bay said that it had not found a correlation between fire -related pollution and the now disgusting epidemic.

Understanding all the effects that heavy metals, chemicals, bacteria and other pollutants published by the fire will have on the marine ecosystem “will take a huge collaboration effort,” said Jenn Cossaboon, a fourth year student at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine who recently ended a doctorate on endocrine disinfusion.

“Species at each level of the food chain, from invertebrates to fish, birds, marine mammals and humans, can be affected differently depending on their physiology and their food strategies,” she said. “It will be very important to link each of these puzzle pieces to really understand the impacts on the food network.”