Manhattan Beach is the latest city that will give monetary support to Los Angeles County’s only year-round marine mammal first responder organization.

The Marine Mammal Care Center, based in San Pedro, has been asking all coastal L.A. County cities, as well as the county itself, for help to care for continued influxes of sick and injured sea mammals.

Manhattan Beach City Council recently voted to give $50,000 to the center in the 2025-26 fiscal year. After the initial commitment, the council can decide whether to extend the agreement for two more years.

The City Council also directed staffers to explore other funding sources that could supplement the center’s work so Manhattan Beach doesn’t have to give money completely out of pocket. If they don’t find money elsewhere, the city will give the grant from its general fund and request reports from MMCC throughout the year documenting how the funds were used.

Center staffers cannot sustain the costs of caring for the animals through its usual funding amid a constantly increasing number of marine mammal strandings and emergencies because of growing toxic algae blooms in the past four years, MMCC leaders said, and have been seeking help from the seaside cities it serves.

Sea lions and other marine mammals become sick with domoic acid poisoning when they eat fish that have consumed the toxic algae. The sick animals can then have seizures, become aggressive and disoriented, and die, said Dave Bader, chief operations and education officer for MMCC.

The goal of the multicity proposals is “to ensure a collective regional solution and annual appropriation that meets the service needs associated with a rapidly changing environment and increasing volume of marine mammal strandings,” Marine Mammal Care Center CEO John Warner wrote in an April proposal letter to Manhattan Beach officials.

In October, Redondo Beach committed to giving MMCC $60,000 per year for three years, until 2027. That city’s contract also has provisions that allow the agreement to be terminated from year to year if the parties choose to.

Hermosa Beach and Rancho Palos Verdes also signed onto the effort last year.

Agreements have been made with five cities, including Manhattan Beach, with a few others still pending. L.A. County has approved giving up to $700,000, Bader said.

The additional funds will also help MMCC remain financially stable, according to a Manhattan Beach staff report.

Marine Mammal Care Center, previously only a rehabilitation center, established its rescue and response program in 2022 after the Marine Animal Rescue organization, which used to rescue and transport ill and injured animals to MMCC, became financially insolvent and shuttered.

Since the center has taken on both jobs, it’s become harder to meet the needs of the animals in its care when more sea lions and other sea mammals are facing health issues each year.

“We want to make sure that doesn’t happen to us,” Bader said. “We want to find ways to ensure our financial stability.”

Most of the center’s funding comes from private philanthropy, Bader said; individual donors are the major source, with foundations and corporate sponsors following. Historically, Bader said, little money has come from government funding.

“We’re looking to change that mostly,” Bader said, “because of the additional funds needed to respond to an ever increasing number of strandings year after year.”

The rescue center has an annual budget of $3.1 million, and operates every day of the year with 22 staff members and nearly 400 volunteers, according to a staff report. Manhattan Beach is in a response zone that comprises more than 45% of the center’s annual rescues.

Southern California has had four years of continuoual harmful algal blooms, Bader said, with this year being the worst in L.A. County history.

The center in a typical year rescues up to 500 animals, he added, but this year, from January to April alone, MMCC rescued more than 400. Staff also had to order an extra 50,000 pounds of herring this year, up from the annual budget to buy 150,000 pounds to feed the animals at the rehab site.

“The scope of toxicity in this season’s bloom was something we’ve never seen before, and the amount of dolphins stranded is something we’ve never seen before,” Bader said. “We’re entering a new normal.”

MMCC is also treating more patients than usual in recent years for typical issues aside from the toxic algal phenomenon, Bader said, like entanglement, malnourished pups and shark bites.