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The state Department of Health Services issued an advisory in April warning people not to eat bivalve shellfish, sardines and anchovies they caught themselves, and to avoid the organs of all lobsters and crabs. Commercially caught clams, mussels, scallops and oysters were exempt from the warning because they are tested frequently.

When OCC professor Dennis Kelly took students in his class on a field trip to San Pedro harbor in May, students discovered a thick concentration of a species of plankton known as Pseudo-nitzschia, which is known to produce domoic acid.

The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach treated many of the birds affected by the poisoning.

Lisa Birkle, assistant wildlife director at the center, estimated that thousands of birds were affected.

Of the 166 birds taken in by the center, about 14 survived, she said.

At the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach this spring, 53 sea lions were brought in and treated, and all but six died.

The Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro saw a 34% mortality rate from domoic acid this year, but experts said the final numbers were not representative of the far-reaching effects of the poisonings.

At a news conference at a bird care center in San Pedro in May, USC professor Dennis Caron said many of the surviving animals may suffer from serious brain and nerve damage.

There was, however, some good news to report.

In May, animal care workers from the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center released nine California brown pelicans into the ocean at Big Corona.

Those birds, survivors of the domoic acid poisoning, waddled to the shoreline from their cages and entered the water together.

“It’s just wonderful that these are the fortunate ones that made it,” said Debbie McGuire, wildlife director at the care center.