63. 1 With the onset of upwelling came a deluge of nutrients that caused Pseudo- 2 nitzschia seed populations to explode in abundance, resulting in a harmful algal bloom 3 unprecedented in its extent and persistence.35 The sheer biomass and extent of Pseudo-nitzschia 4 produced similarly unprecedented concentrations of domoic acid. 36 The toxin entered the marine 5 trophic chain, where it accumulated in crabs feeding on other contaminated organisms. Domoic 6 acid contamination persists in ocean sediments and therefore continues to impact organisms living 7 and feeding on the bottom of the ocean floor (“benthic organisms”) long after the toxin-producing 8 algal species have dissipated.37 64. 9 In response to testing showing that crabs off the west coast contained domoic acid 10 concentrations greater than FDA’s 30-ppm action level, CDFW and ODFW have closed large 11 swaths of those states’ coasts to commercial crabbing. ODFW also has imposed additional 12 precautionary measures, such as requiring crabs harvested from areas that had been under a domoic 13 acid-induced closure to be eviscerated (thereby removing the viscera, or guts, which typically 14 contain the highest concentration of domoic acid) before proceeding to the retail market. 65. 15 As the sea surface temperature warming trend continues, domoic acid outbreaks 16 will become a recurring facet of the California Current ecosystem, 38 and will continue to impact 17 commercial fisheries. Indeed, testing in California and Oregon ahead of the 2018–19 commercial 18 Dungeness crab season has shown crabs that exceed the 30-ppm action level. In response, CDFW 19 has already announced the closure of a large section of the California coast from Bodega Head to 20 the Sonoma/Mendocino County line to commercial crabbing at the outset of the 2018–19 season. 21 Continued ocean warming through the 21st century will promote the intensification and 22 23 24 35 25 26 27 28 SHER EDLING LLP Ryan M. McCabe et al., The unprecedented coastwide toxic algal bloom linked to anomalous ocean conditions, GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS 43, 10,369 (2016); see also S. Morgaine McKibben, Climatic regulation of the neurotoxin domoic acid, PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 114, 240 (Jan. 10, 2017). 36 McCabe et al., supra note 35, at 10,372. 37 Id. at 10,371 (citing R.A. Horner et al., Retention of domoic acid by Pacific Razor Clams, Siliqua patula, Preliminary Study, 12 JOURNAL OF SHELLFISH RESEARCH 451, 451–56 (1993)). 38 Id. at 10,373; Zhu, supra note 27, at 40 (noting that anticipated summertime sea surface temperature increases will correspond with the temperatures observed in the Blob). COMPLAINT 33