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OARRA's Earth Day Report: 2024
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A deceased stranded gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) is lapped by the gentle waves as the tide rises in Malibu. Credit: OARRA
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Happy Earth Day!
Well... "happy" may be a debatable declaration. Earth Day is both a celebration of the planet we live on and a time for reflection and reified action to combat the often-dire circumstances that befall its landscapes and inhabitants.
Though Earth Day's modern reach touches every corner of the environmental sciences, it began on the California coastline. The creation of Earth Day itself in 1970 was catalyzed by a 3 million gallon oil blowout in the Santa Barbara Channel in 1969, which reportedly killed over 10,000 seabirds and marine mammals. This compounded growing concerns about the impact of human pressures on wildlife. Earth Day signaled a new era in environmental legislation and protections in the decade to follow, including landmark pivots in wildlife management efforts such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act — but the fight is far from over, 54 years later.
As an organization that continues the watchdog work of monitoring marine wildlife in coastal California regions heavily impacted by the human activities of today and legacy hazards of decades past, OARRA takes up this call to action every day as fierce response and research advocates.
Read on to see our quarterly updates from the field and the ways in which OARRA embraces Earth Day everyday.
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Do you have a plan for how you are taking action on Earth Day? Your support makes OARRA's conservation missions possible.
Our conservation and research work is kept afloat by the compassion, curiosity, and enthusiasm of dedicated volunteers, donors, collaborators, and citizen scientists.
Please consider contributing to OARRA this month to help give the marine animals of Southern California a voice through OARRA's research and response programs. 100% of your generous donation will directly benefit our:
Donating to OARRA's programs is now available through Aplos and Venmo.
Every donation makes an incredible difference. We are thankful down to the oceanic depths for your support! Donations are 100% tax-deductible.
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Twin offshore oil platforms Ellen & Elly are a stop on Los Angeles OARRA Survey & Monitoring routes. Despite their looming industrial profiles, these platforms frequently host hundreds of California sea lions, pelagic seabirds, and many more ocean animals just beneath the surface — a delicate balance between the adaptability of wildlife and potential risks they may encounter in our waters. Credit: OARRA
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Survey & Monitoring Program Recap:
In 2024 so far, OARRA has embarked on 12 Survey and Monitoring trips. Our sightings in Los Angeles County and Orange County included:
- 2,081 Pinnipeds
- 1,940 California Sea Lions
- 141 Harbor Seals
- 4,252 Cetaceans
- 4,150 Common Dolphins
- 70 Bottlenose Dolphins
- 20 Pacific White-Sided Dolphins
- 8 Gray Whales
- 3 Fin Whales
- 1 Unidentified Whale
- 26 Flipper Tag Sightings Reported
- 4 Pelican Band Sightings Reported
- 9 Entanglements Reported
- 28 Injuries/Shark Bites Reported
Explore sighting details, photos, and data maps online on OARRA's website.
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Orange-tagged California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) W7332 peeps sleepily at OARRA researchers while hauled out on a mooring near Marina del Rey. Orange flipper tags indicate that an animal has been successfully released from a rehabilitation center. Credit: OARRA
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Have you spotted a flipper-tagged marine mammal? Citizen scientists like you can help OARRA and our alliances by reporting a tag sighting! These identifiers indicate animals that have been treated and released by rehabilitation facilities or marked for study by research teams. Monitoring tagged animals in the wild is critical to marine mammal science, management, and conservation.
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Reporting bird leg band sightings is also a crucial way you can help researchers and responders monitor individual animals' continued health and movement long after they've left a rehabilitation facility.
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OARRA's first dead stranded California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) pup of the year awaits collection by first responders in Cabrillo Beach. Beachgoers have left wilting flowers from the bluffside path in anonymous memoriam. Credit: OARRA
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Mortality Response & Research Program Recap:
In 2024 so far, OARRA responded to 22 marine animal mortalities in Los Angeles County:
- 18 Pinnipeds
- 17 California Sea Lions
- 1 Unidentified Pinniped
- 3 Cetaceans
- 1 Pacific White-Sided Dolphin
- 1 Northern Right Whale Dolphin
- 1 Gray Whale
- 1 Green Sea Turtle
Explore case details, photos, and data maps online on OARRA's website.
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OARRA field biologists take lateral blubber thickness measurements on a gray whale to assess its body condition and nutritional state. Credit: OARRA
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As always, we are grateful to work with these animals in life and death; caretaking the gift of their bodies and giving voice to their stories through comprehensive examination, sampling, and analysis is a critical part of understanding the health of their populations and the threats they face in our oceans.
Please report marine mammal and sea turtle mortalities in Los Angeles County to OARRA's Marine Animal Mortality Response Hotline: ☎️ (949)-276-2237. Your reports ensure that every animal's story gets told.
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OARRA's field teams are monitored by curious animals as much as we monitor them. A playful pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) examined our GoPro quite closely on a recent Survey & Monitoring trip. Credit: OARRA
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🌊Current Events:
The Southern California coast is always teeming with a complex network of marine seasons and cycles. What's going on in our local waters this quarter?
The OARRA field crew has enjoyed several sightings of Pacific white-sided dolphins during their seasonal residency this year. These curious dolphins can typically be found in our nearshore coastal waters from November to April, though their patterns of migration are still being studied. This species sighting window is tapering off for the season, but we're still keeping an eye out for their boldly contrasted morphology and falcate, duotone dorsal fins while scanning for year-round residents like coastal bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins.
Gray whales are returning to our waters on their northbound migration from their Mexican calving lagoons! Cow and calf pairs are frequently the last to be seen migrating north, and they hug the coast closely to seek safety in shallow waters. These sweet pairs may be sighted from shore through May.
OARRA's field activities may primarily take place during the day, but oceanic phenomena do not keep a strictly diurnal schedule: if your coastal adventures keep you past sunset, keep your eyes peeled for sightings of bright blue bioluminescent dinoflagellates, which have been sighted again recently in our waters, and pencil in the season's forecasted grunion runs to witness the surreal midnight spawning of these iconic silvery sea creatures.
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As always, please remember to Share the Shore and keep your distance from wildlife. These animals need plenty of space and security to thrive, as human interaction and interference is energetically expensive and often ends up acutely harmful. In the field, OARRA utilizes telephoto lenses and binoculars to observe marine animals in detail from an appropriate distance, and many of our photos are tightly cropped. Please respect wildlife's rights to an undisturbed environment and enjoy their natural behaviors from afar. Check out NOAA's Marine Life Viewing Guidelines to ensure wildlife safety.
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OARRA Survey & Monitoring crew sight themselves from a drone during marine animal abundance surveys. Happy National Volunteer Month, crew! Credit: OARRA
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OARRA's S.E.A. State:
We are excited to continue our Service, Education, & Alliance work into spring 2024! It has been a busy quarter, with much more to come as our programs pick up for the season.
OARRA representatives attended the California Sea Grant DDT Community Meeting in order to keep up to date on the latest findings on deep-ocean DDT dumping sites in Southern California and how they may still be affecting marine wildlife. This ongoing research into our backyard Superfund sites maps onto forthcoming collaborative DDT and contaminant testing that OARRA will be participating in over summer 2024; stay tuned for updates.
OARRA representatives also participated in the 2024 Eastern Pacific Marine One Health Coalition Workshop as part of the Marine Mammal Movement & Population Status working group. We are excited about sharing our open-access Survey & Monitoring mapping data with our collaborators via our WatchSpotter project and look forward to future workshops.
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OARRA Founder & CEO Keith Matassa presents program overviews and case studies to Rotary clubs in Southern California. Credit: OARRA
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We have been fortunate enough to speak to two wonderful Rotary clubs this quarter: Garden Grove Rotary and the Tustin-Santa Ana Rotary club each hosted us with warm welcome as we shared our ongoing work with their members. Thank you for your community, curiosity, and compassion, Rotarians! We admire your commitment to supporting local non-profit efforts and look forward to continuing our relationship with Southern California chapters in the future.
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OARRA and California Wildlife Center responders sample and photograph a dead stranded gray whale in Malibu. Credit: California Wildlife Center
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In March, OARRA responders assisted our frequent West Coast Region collaborators at California Wildlife Center with the examination of a sub-adult gray whale mortality in Malibu – our first large cetacean stranding of the season. As gray whales begin their seasonal migration northbound, we see many thriving individuals pass through our waters; however, for reasons still under investigation, this male did not survive the journey. We are incredibly grateful for our alliance with CWC and their collaboration and investigation of this whale's life and death. For more information, follow and support @oarra_org and @cawildlife as we continue to learn more about cetacean mortalities in Los Angeles County.
OARRA's Marine Animal Mortality Response Program was also the NOAA West Coast Region Stranding Network spotlight in a national feature story on recent Prescott Grant recipients and collaborators in pinniped conservation. Check out the full article here!
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OARRA volunteer and data wrangler Kevin C. deploys a hydrophone overboard amidst a pod of common dolphins on a Survey & Monitoring trip. Thank you for all you do, Kevin! Credit: OARRA
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It’s National Volunteer Month and National Volunteer Week – and OARRA simply could not sustain itself without the committed efforts of our vibrant community of volunteers. Thank you to each and every one of the crew members who have spent long hours scouting the seas, meticulously collecting and managing data, taking critical measurements and samples on marine mortalities, and supporting our social media, education, and outreach activities. We couldn't achieve our conservation missions without your dedication.
Additionally, a congratulations is in order for several OARRA volunteers who became certified American Cetacean Society Marine Mammal Naturalists this season – another testament to the many avenues for learning and collaboration in our local conservation community.
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OARRA staff present on marine animal mortality response at Orange Coast College. Credit: OARRA
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Earth Day also marks National Environmental Education Week this year. Keep an eye on our social media for insights into our science communication efforts, the likes of which we’re excited to grow this year. We kicked off the week early with a return to Orange Coast College’s student-led Marine Mammal Research Group, where we presented early career marine mammal science researchers with a crash course in Los Angeles County dead stranding response. We’re excited to onboard many new and returning students as Level A first responders in order to provide hands-on, immersive experience in the stranding field during their degree programs.
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A very large adult male California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) is staged on the beach by Beaches & Harbors for later examination by OARRA, a truck in the background for scale. Credit: B&H
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And as always, we are also incredibly grateful to our NOAA West Coast Stranding Network partners and the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches & Harbors for their continued collaboration and support.
If you know of a venue or program interested in outreach, education, collaboration, and press opportunities with OARRA, please contact us at info@oarra.org. We can't wait to hear from you!
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Thank you for your support!
"Sea" you soon!
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