SEATTLE (AP) — A new study finds that unusually warm Pacific Ocean temperatures helped cause a massive bloom of toxic algae last year that closed lucrative fisheries from California to British Columbia and disrupted marine life from seabirds to sea lions. Scientists linked the large patch of warm ocean water, nicknamed the "blob," to the vast ribbon of toxic algae that flourished in 2015 and produced record-breaking levels of a neurotoxin that is harmful to people, fish and marine life. [...] a series of late spring storms delivered the bloom to the coast. Kathi Lefebvre, a co-author and marine biologist at NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center, said the bloom resulted in the highest levels of domoic acid contamination in the food web ever recorded for many species.