Westlake Word

During the 18th and 19th centuries, and even into the 20th century, sea otters were nearly hunted to extinction for their luxuriant pelts. Other threats to the species include entrapment or entanglement in fishing gear, oil spills, and climate change, dwindling populations on the coasts of California and Mexico. As a result, southern sea otters have been recognized as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, until now, as conservation efforts attempt to reintroduce them to their coastal homes, according to Carswell.

 

Oregon Wild, an organization aiming to restore sea otters to their state, where the last known resident otter was killed in 1907, observes that “In marine habitats, sea otters help maintain balance by controlling populations of sea urchins;” however, when sea otters are absent, those sea urchins consume kelp forests that provide many other species with food and shelter. In Oregon, specifically, the kelp forest decline has led rockfish and many other kelp-dependent species to a similar fate. The decline takes a toll on humans and the environment as well, for kelp stores carbon in its tissue, keeping carbon emissions from changing the climate, Dinneen reports.

 

Efforts to reintroduce sea otters have always been attempted, such as in 1960 and 1970 when a few dozen Alaskan otters were transplanted to Washington state water, increasing in numbers to more than 1,000. However, Lilian Carswell, the lead on sea otter recovery in California for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in the article, “Sea Otters Used to Live in the Bay--Should We Bring Them Back?” says, “‘For sea otters to have a future, they need to be able to expand their range.’” Therefore, sea otter estuaries have been established across the western coast, and Michelle Staedler at Monterey Bay Aquarium is enthusiastic about exploring the option of releasing their rescued sea otters into estuaries along the Californian coast, including Drake’s Estero, an estuary in Point Reyes National Seashore, and the San Francisco Bay, which is California’s biggest estuary by far, Meadows notes.

 

In a recent study published by Science, a team of researchers led by Edward Gregr of the University of British Columbia developed a method to address the problem of how recovering keystone predators affect local economies and human populations by measuring an ecosystem’s biomass, or the total mass of living things in an area. Using the Canadian coast in the North Pacific as a model, researchers found that the presence of sea otters increased total biomass by 37%, meaning there is predicted to be more plants and animals (by mass) in the habitat with sea otters present as active predators, as recorded by Massive Science in their article, “Reintroducing sea otters is good for the environment and the economy, and both matter.”

 

The scientists then used that biomass data alongside invertebrate catch data from 1983 to 2008 from Fisheries and Oceans Canada to assess economic gains and losses with sea otters present as the main predator. Massive Science noted that increased sources of revenue could total $46 million CAD, approximately $34 million USD, a year if sea otters were to fully recover along Canada’s Pacific Coast. This is furthered in ScienceNews’ article, “Bringing sea otters back to the Pacific coast pays off, but not for everyone” which claims that tourism would also gain revenue by an average of $121 CAD per visitor, about $81 USD, totalling an estimated gain of $42 million CAD, $32 million USD, from tourism alone.

 

Nonetheless, plenty of anti-otter sentiment privately persists, Gregr has even heard them called the “rats of the ocean,” however, the otters’ effect on their ecosystem—including increasing populations of fish, carbon capture and tourism—far outweigh the costs and burdens some companies may face due to their reintroduction along western coasts. In fact, the iconic image of a charming sea otter flowing along the water on their back may just take the cake for preventing them from endangerment once more.

 

Works Cited

Carswell, Lilian. "Southern Sea Otter." Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, www.fws.gov/ventura/endangered/species/info/sso.html. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

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Dinneen, James. "Reintroducing sea otters is good for the environment and the economy, and both matter." Smithsonian Magazine, 12 June 2020, www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/sea-otter-benefits-180975086/. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

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Lambert, Jonathan. "Bringing sea otters back to the Pacific coast pays off, but not for everyone." ScienceNews, Society for Science & the Public, 11 June 2020, www.sciencenews.org/article/sea-otters-pacific-northwest-indigenous-communities. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

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Meadows, Robin. "SEA OTTERS USED TO LIVE IN THE BAY — SHOULD WE BRING THEM BACK?" Bay Area Monitor, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, June 2020, bayareamonitor.org/article/sea-otters-used-to-live-in-the-bay-should-we-bring-them-back/. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

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"The Return of the Sea Otter?" Oregon Wild, oregonwild.org/about/press/return-sea-otter. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

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Vandermeulen, Matthew. "Reintroducing sea otters is good for the environment and the economy, and both matter." Massive Science, 30 Aug. 2020, massivesci.com/articles/sea-otter-predator-keystone-economy/. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.