Recent record numbers of reported sea lion strandings and whale entanglements off the California coast have prompted a state legislative proposal aimed at providing emergency funding to rescue networks that work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) will introduce legislation Tuesday, April 25, that seeks permanent funding for emergency response teams that rescue whales, sea turtles and other marine mammals that have become entangled in fishing gear or stranded on the coast. Senate Bill 290 would create an emergency grant program for stranding partners from San Diego to Sausalito who are active in NOAA’s stranding and disentanglement teams.

“We know these creatures are experiencing real problems,” Jackson said. “Whales are part of our heritage and people come from all around the world to see these magnificent creatures. Just a few weeks ago there was a gray whale with a frame embedded in its head that swam up the California coastline. It’s volunteer networks and many fishermen, who spot and rescue these animals and frankly, risk their lives.”

Jackson hopes to gather support from legislative colleagues representing districts up and down the California coast.

“I’m optimistic,” she said. “It’s a good bill and we have the support of most of the environmental community.”

Jackson also points to how the bill would serve to support a multi-million dollar whale-watch industry that draws hundreds of thousands of tourists to the coast.

There are about 40 whale-watching companies operating out of harbors from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Three companies operate out of Long Beach Harbor, four out Newport Harbor and three out of Dana Point. There are two in Oceanside Harbor and at least eight out of San Diego Harbor.

Funding for SB 290 would go through the Wildlife Health Center at UC Davis. In 2015 and 2016, Gov. Jerry Brown authorized $3 million in reimbursements to go to stranding network partners. Jackson wants to make sure that funding turns into legislation and continues annually.

A group from the health center sets the criteria for reimbursement to the marine mammal stranding groups that are authorized to do the work through NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. They would submit their costs and be reimbursed.

“All these organizations do this work on their own funds,” said Kirsten Gilardi, co-director of the center. “This would provide state support for their efforts on behalf of California’s marine wildlife.”

A gray whale spotted off Newport Beach Sunday, April 16, showed gill net still entangled on its tail, though most of it was removed the previous day in Dana Point by a NOAA rescue team. (Photo courtesy of Mark Girardeau)

Dean Gomersall with the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, top and Eric Otjen of the Mammal Dept at Sea World, San Diego remove netting entangled on the body of a young gray whale in Dana Point Harbor in 2010. A bill to assist marine mammal care centers along California will be introduced in the state legislature on Tuesday, April 25. The bill would provide funding to centers such as PMMC in the wake of recent mass strandings and whale entanglements. We look at recent impacts at centers from San Diego to Sausalito. (File photo by Michael Goulding Orange County Register/SCNG)

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The Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach is treating several rescued Sea Lions for domoic acid poisoning. The center also has several baby Elephant Seals recovering from malnutrition. in Laguna Beach, CA on Wednesday, April 12, 2017. (Photo by Sam Gangwer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Rescued baby sea lions snuggle together at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center where they are nursed back to health last year. A bill to assist marine mammal care centers along California will be introduced in the state legislature on Tuesday, April 25. The bill would provide funding to centers such as PMMC in the wake of recent mass strandings and whale entanglements. We look at recent impacts at centers from San Diego to Sausalito. (File photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A baby Harbor Seal hangs out in one of the wading pools at The Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. The center is treating several rescued Sea Lions for domoic acid poisoning as well as dozens of baby seals and sea lions for malnutrition. in Laguna Beach, CA on Wednesday, April 12, 2017. (Photo by Sam Gangwer, Orange County Register/SCNG)



A humpback whale entangled in fishing line was spotted off Newport Beach in 2016. A bill to assist marine mammal care centers along California will be introduced in the state legislature on Tuesday, April 25. The bill would provide funding to centers such as PMMC in the wake of recent mass strandings and whale entanglements. We look at recent impacts at centers from San Diego to Sausalito. (PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK GIRARDEAU/NEWPORT COASTAL ADVENTURE)

A gray whale spotted off Newport Beach Sunday, April 16, showed gill net still entangled on its tail, though most of it was removed the previous day in Dana Point by a NOAA rescue team. Photographer Mark Girardeau said the whale, shown here, seemed to have trouble breathing. (Photo courtesy of Mark Girardeau)

Rich German, of Laguna Beach, was sadden by the news of Scarlet’s death Thursday, a humpback who last year spent six weeks entangled in fishing rope. German seen paddling with Scarlet off Laguna Beach shortly after she broke lose from entanglement. (Photo courtesy of Taylor Thorne/Newport Coastal Adventure)

A humpback whale entangled in fishing line was spotted off Newport Beach on Saturday. Rescue efforts are still underway on Sunday.

A gray whale spotted off Newport Beach Sunday, April 16, showed gill net still entangled on its tail, though most of it was removed the previous day in Dana Point by a NOAA rescue team. (Photo courtesy of Mark Girardeau)



Four adult female sea lions at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center (PMMC) in Laguna Beach on Monday, April 10, 2017. (Courtesy The Pacific Marine Mammal Center)

Last year, 71 whales were reported entangled along the California coast. A record 6,000 stranded sea lions, harbor seals, elephant seals and other mammals were rescued off the coast in 2015 and 2016. In 2016, two Pacific leatherback sea turtles, listed as critically endangered, were reported entangled and only one was released alive.

The funding could benefit rescue centers from San Diego’s Sea World, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, the Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles in San Pedro, the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute in Santa Barbara and the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito.

Jackson, who also champions ocean health by reducing the number of offshore oil rigs, is introducing the bill the same week that the state Legislature is recognizing Marine Mammal Rescue Day. That legislation, sponsored by Sen.Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Marin/Del Norte), celebrates the work and success of the nonprofit marine mammal stranding network and its volunteers for rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing animals treated in their centers.

Representatives from each of the eight marine mammal stranding network centers in California will be in Sacramento for the recognition, among them Keith Matassa, executive director of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach.

“It’s legitimizing and acknowledging we have a problem,” Matassa said of Thursday’s recognition and Jackson’s bill. “It’s going to support organizations so we can build on the West Coast disentanglement system and it helps funding for the constant crisis of California sea lions.”

Matassa, who has been at PMMC since 2013, and before that spent more than two decades in marine mammal rescue on the East Coast, said Jackson’s proposed legislation would be the first such bill in more than 15 years.

He points to the John H. Prescott Grant, federal funding that was made available to the marine mammal stranding network in 2000. The Prescott Grant program provides grants or cooperative agreements to eligible stranding network participants for recovery and treatment of stranded marine mammals. It also helps with facility upgrades, operation and staffing costs and includes funding to collect data from living or dead stranded marine mammals.

“That’s the only funding that’s been appropriated,” he said.

Since 2013, when mass sea lion pups began stranding along Orange County beaches suffering from dehydration and lack of food, PMMC has rescued 1,418 California sea lions.

That has increased costs, which have risen from $200,000 to more than $400,000, he said.

PMMC gets its donations through private funding, most from individuals in Laguna Beach and in Orange County.

This year alone, the center has taken in 108 animals. In the last two weeks more than 61 have come in.

Since April 4, when the center took in the first adult female sea lion suspected to have been poisoned by domoic acid, teams have been racing to beaches from San Onofre to Seal Beach several times each day.

The sea lions, many pregnant, have eaten sardines and anchovies that have fed on toxic algae blooms creating the poison. Of the 29 sea lions rescued, 19 have died and four have been released. The center has also taken in 31 elephant seals, one harbor seal and two Guadalupe fur seals.

Scientists working for NOAA say the harmful algae bloom, fueled by warmer water and run-off coupled with fertilizer and partially treated sewage, could be the worst they’ve seen in a decade.

At the Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles in San Pedro, veterinarians treat stranded seals and sea lions brought to them by local rescue agencies along the Los Angeles County coast.

Since 2013, the center has rescued 2,200 sick and dying animals. On April 1, they took in their first adult female sea lion with poison symptoms. In all, they have taken in 46, 22 have died.

Jeff Cozad, executive director of the Los Angles center, applauds Jackson’s efforts.

“This bill increases public awareness that protected animals are in need year-round,” he said. “It increases confidence that emergency needs are being cared for even without state funding and encourages people to seek out the nearest marine mammal facility to volunteer their time and make a financial donation.”

Cozad said it will also give marine mammal responders the confidence that part or all of the unexpected emergency costs could be reimbursed.

But stranded pinnipeds is not the only work PMMC does, the center is also part of NOAA’s Orange County whale disentanglement task force. The center has participated in three disentanglement efforts already this year.

About two weeks ago, a gray whale was spotted off Dana Point with a metal frame embedded into its head. Two Dana Point whale watch boat captains scrambled to assist the whale but the never-before-seen gear made rescue efforts impossible.

The whale was later seen off Los Angles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Last week, another gray whale was spotted off San Clemente pier by Mark Tyson, a Dolphin Safari whale watch captain. Capt. Tom Southern worked with two rescue members from PMMC to support NOAA’s marine mammal stranding coordinator who cut a 150-foot-long gillnet from the whale. A day later, the whale was spotted off Newport Beach with some line still wrapped in its fluke.

Donna Kalez, who operates Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching, supports Jackson’s bill.

Five of her boat captains also work with NOAA’s Orange County disentanglement team. The team formed by Dave Anderson, who operates Capt. Dave’s Dolphin Safari and Whale Watching, has responded to more than 15 whale disentanglements in the last two years. Kalez, like Jackson supports a healthy ocean where there are no entanglements.

In the late 1960s, Kalez’s father, Don Hansen, started whale watching as an educational tool for school children off San Clemente pier. In 1971, he was the first one to start commercial whale watching in Orange County when he moved to Dana Wharf Landing in the Dana Point Harbor.

Now decades later, the family has seen the industry explode and whale-watching has become the number one tourist draw in Dana Point, bringing in hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

“The new drone videos and whale rescue footage has been picked up around the world bringing millions of dollars worth of exposure to Dana Point,” said Heather Johnston, director of the Dana Point Chamber of Commerce. “We would never be able to afford that kind of exposure.”

For Kalez and others who operate whale-watch operations, business is booming.

“There are all these whales out there and everybody wants to go see them,” she said. “There are whales that are named and come around each year. People love the gray whale migration and feel a connection with the whales. They don’t want to hear about the whales being caught in gear.”