Sonoma/Mendo Coast Die Off?

I read in the paper just the other day about an abalone die off in Sonoma County. Then today a friend called who was born and raised in Point Arena and fished it all his life. He was out on the water for 5 hours today and he gave me a very grim kayak rockfish report, saying that the water was a rusty color and that it smelled like rotting death. He said there was floating dead marine life everywhere (jellyfish, crabs, baby fish, starfish) He said he was on the water for apprx. 5 hours with not even a bite, alternating between jigs and dropping squid. He said it is the first time he's ever been skunked in his life out there.

Has anyone else noticed this or have any insight on what it might be?

 

Here's the link to the article I referred to:

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110901/ARTICLES/110909929

I was up on the sonoma coast last weekend of august and was surprised how much damage a big plankton bloom could cause. I dove and saw abalone flopping around on the ocean floor, sea urchin also not able to hold onto the rocks. The plankton had depleted the creatures of valuable oxygen. Very sad. Hopefully this next week clears things up and everything gets better.