Sea World, San Diego has indefinitely suspended its live sea lion shows. The move was made so that the animal’s trainers can assist with sea lion rescue operations off the coast of California.

The state is currently witnessing an unprecedented die off of the animals that began in 2013.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) reported a much higher than average rate of sea lion pup standings early in 2013 with Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties all reporting standings at two to four times the average rate. In total, nearly 1500 standings were reported in those five counties.

“Our findings to date indicate that a likely contributor to the large number of stranded, malnourished pups was a change in the availability of sea lion prey, especially sardines, a high value food source for nursing mothers,” said the agency in a report.

The problem continued into 2014, with the NOAA releasing a study that showed the sardine fishery was collapsing. The study showed a 74 percent decline in sardine populations since 2007.

In 2015 the numbers of sea lion standings have claimed sharply again, with 1200 standings have been reported to date .

“These little pups, so desperate and so thin, are leaving the rookeries long before they’re capable of hunting effectively. It’s alarming because we haven’t seen this number of stranded pups this early in 40 years,” Shawn Johnson, director of veterinary science at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, told Reuters.

In addition to being a theme park, Sea World frequently serves as a marine animal rescue center.

“It is anticipated that this move will provide an additional six animal specialists daily to assist with ongoing rescue and rehabilitation efforts. A small number of trainers will remain at Sea Lion stadium to continue to care for the sea lions and otters living there. The entire SeaWorld zoological staff is working tirelessly to save the lives of these emaciated and ill animals. The team has already rescued more than 400 sea lions in 2015, which is more than twice the number of marine mammal rescues the park would average in a typical year,” said a blog post announcing the cancellation of the sea lion shows.

Sea lion strandings in California typically peak in March and rescue workers and rehabilitation centers are bracing themselves for what could be the worst month in recent history.  A warmer Pacific is believed to be one of the chief causes of the collapse of the sardine population and the sea lion population decline.

Earlier this week, the NOAA announced that the Pacific has officially entered into a weak El Nino phase, which will warm the waters even more.

The Marine Mammal Center is now referring to the event as the “California Sea Lion Crisis” and is pledging to rescue every animal that is reported to them. However, rehabilitating the animals will be an expensive, long term project because the pups have not yet learned the survival skills they will need to return to the wild.

“What’s scary is that we don’t know when this will end. This could be the new normal—a changed environment that we’re dealing with now,” said Dr. Shawn Johnson, Director of Veterinary Science at The Marine Mammal Center, in a statement.