El Nino ocean warming "causing havoc" for seals off California coast

The San Francisco-based Marine Mammal Center said it has rescued 106 emaciated northern fur seals so far in 2015 – three times greater than the previous record year for rescues. The center said the seals are victim of the exceptionally strong El Nino, which has brought a surge of warm water species, such as red tuna crabs and hammerhead sharks, to California’s coast. According to Noaa, more than 4,200 sick sea lions have been washed up in California so far this year, comfortably the greatest number of strandings over the past decade. A further 100 Guadalupe fur seals and 150 northern fur seals have also been washed up, state-wide.