Eighty Guadalupe fur seals have been found stranded on the California coast this year, far above the average of 10 to 12, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced on Tuesday. Forty-two of the seals from the threatened species were dead when found. Thirty-eight were alive, but only 11 lived to be rehabilitated and released. Most were emaciated when found.

NOAA declared the strandings an “unusual mortality event,” a designation meant to focus attention on the causes. The agency made a similar declaration for California sea lions in 2013, but officials said numbers of sea lions stranded this year are returning to normal. The two species have different habits and ranges, but both may be suffering from changes in the availability of food because of warmer Pacific waters.

Guadalupe fur seals, once brought to the brink of extinction by commercial hunting, now number around 15,000, officials said. They breed almost exclusively on the Mexican island of Guadalupe, but range as far north as Vancouver Island.