Avian botulism caused about 2,000 seagull deaths from October 1996 to October 1997. Newcastle disease was blamed for 16,000 double-crested cormorant deaths, including an entire breeding colony, in May 1997.
According to a Dec. 12, 1997, press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), "Avian botulism continued at chronic levels through 1997; 6,845 dead birds were picked up, including 303 white pelicans and 234 brown pelicans, while 267 sick pelicans were sent for rehabilitation."
Where does the botulism come from? According to FWS, botulism developed in thousands of tilapia, which died of infections that allowed the botulism to develop in their blocked intestines. Sea gets saltier. Fish get sick. Fish die. Birds eat fish. Birds die.
All this disease and death keep the refuge staff busy tending to sick, dying and dead fish and birds. Such work takes a toll, physically and mentally on the staff and, with all the literal stink about dead fish and birds, you'd think there would be widespread knowledge about and concern over the Salton Sea ecosystem problem but have you heard about it?
Jurisdiction is one problem confronting those who would like to apply potential solutions. FWS says that a comprehensive solution would involve many interconnected problems that come under the jurisdiction of different agencies. If one agency attacks only its part of the big problem, the likelihood of success is slim to none. Some of the agencies involved besides FWS, are the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Geological Survey Biological and Water Resources Division, and the California Department of Fish and Game. But these aren't the only agencies interested in the sea. Representatives of 21 federal, state and local agencies, universities and government offices attended a workshop in August 1997 to discuss the problems. After four days they came up with 31 research proposals that would cost $36 million to fund.
Meanwhile, some agencies acting independently are involved in projects that will affect the Salton Sea. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Mexico, for example, are working on a sewage treatment plant and new channelization project in Mexicali, which empties into the New River, which flows north to the Salton Sea. What effect will cleaner water have on the Salton Sea? No one knows for sure.
More Information:
- The Salton Sea, by Eldon R. Caldwell, Imperial Valley College, contains all the links I'd want to start with on the Salton Sea. Links are to studies, a map, satellite image, Smithsonian magazine article and more.
- Salton Sea Sickness, by Gordy Slack, is a nicely written account of a walk
