Investigation underway into mass death of sea lions on north coast of Peru

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Approximately 500 sea lions lie dead on a beach along the northern coast of Peru; environmental authorities are investigating.

by John Tyburski

Copyright © John Tyburski. All rights reserved.

The sudden deaths of around 500 sea lions has officials in Peru speculating on who is responsible. Meanwhile, Peru’s environmental police are investigating the mass die-off, the evidence of which—the rotting corpses of the animals—began to decompose on Anconcillo beach in the Ancash region about 250 miles north of Lima. The corpses have since been collected and moved off in response to public health concerns.

A local governmental leader accused fishermen of poisoning the sea lions, since the marine mammals move inward toward the shore in search of food and causing disruptions in fishing. The environmental police suggest that other explanations include disease and ingestion of plastic waste. Both juveniles and adults were affected by whatever caused the die-off.

Also still under investigation are the deaths of nearly 200 sea lions, dolphins, turtles, and pelicans, which were found washed ashore further north earlier in the month. These are not the only marine environmental mysteries for Peru, as a two-year-old case of the deaths of hundreds of dolphins found washed up on shore remains unexplained.

The environmental group Orca speculates that the noise and shock waves from explosions related to nearby oil exploration are to blame.  A report by the Maritime Institute Imarpe rules out oil exploration activities as well as viral and bacterial infections in the dolphin die-off of 2012. Rather, the report blamed the deaths on natural causes, although those natural causes were not described.