Wednesday July 1, 2009, 10:05 am
Drastic measures need to be implemented.. sherbet it will be sad the day when we no longer have these otters and other species.

Wednesday July 1, 2009, 10:17 am
Thanks Cher!

Sea otters along the California coast are dying off faster than at any time since the late 1990s, a disturbing trend that experts say is partially due to human-caused water pollution, the U.S. Geological Survey reported Tuesday.

A spring census of the threatened otters found only 2,654 otters along 375 miles of coast, a 3.8 percent drop from the year before.

"We know the problem is not one of reduced reproduction. It's one of elevated mortality," said Tim Tinker, a wildlife biologist at the USGS Western Ecological Research Center at the UC Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab.

Lab tests show the otters are primarily dying from disease carried by bacteria, viruses and parasites. Those organisms are found in sewage as well as urban and farm runoff that contaminates creeks and coastal waters, researchers have found.

And although the animals don't seem to be suffering from lack of food due to fluctuating ocean conditions, researchers say their nutrition is limited when they can't get their fill of their preferred prey - crabs, urchins, clams, abalone and mussels.

Pollution and overfishing reduce the food supply, as does heavy feeding in popular spots by the otters themselves. When the otters aren't able to get the proper food, they are less likely to successfully fight disease, scientists say.

The largest density of otters stretches from the Monterey Peninsula to Big Sur south to Morro Bay (San Luis Obispo County). The buoyant, whiskered mammals were once found from Baja California to the Oregon coast.

Fur traders, beginning in the mid-1700s, speared and shot them for their pelts. By the 1900s, the otters were thought to be extinct. It wasn't until the 1920s that a remnant colony was discovered along Big Sur when the state was excavating for a road.

The otters' numbers have been slowly rising ever since. But in recent years, the recovery has leveled off.

Researchers pay most attention to the average population numbers over a three-year period. Each season, they average the count with the two preceding years in order to minimize any year-to-year anomalies. For example, windy weather this year could have played a part in the lower count.

Still, the three-year average ending this spring shows the first drop in otter numbers since 1999.

The average ending in 2009 was 2,813 otters, compared with 2,826 the year before, a drop of 0.5 percent.

The decrease may seem small, but scientists are concerned that the population isn't healthy and growing.

Because there is much unoccupied potential habitat in which the otters could expand, scientists are perplexed as to why the otter numbers remain small. In Washington, a population that was reintroduced as recently as the late 1960s and early 1970s has grown by 10 percent to 20 percent a year.

In an odd finding, the big groups of males typically counted at the far ends of the range at the Santa Barbara Channel and near Pigeon Point south of Half Moon Bay in the last five years weren't seen in the survey between May 4 and June 11.

To researchers, it means that the otters aren't expanding along the coast as hoped. Those groups at the range's periphery are the ones that expand into new territory, Tinker said.

But the observation doesn't alarm scientists, he said, because the expansion is dynamic, with the males moving from the periphery to the center and back.

"It's not a smooth continuum. We tend to see expansion in spurts," Tinker said.

This year, scientists who conducted the census with binoculars and spotting scopes were from USGS, the California Department of Fish and Game, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Monterey Bay Aquarium. Volunteers also helped with the count.

Allison Ford, director of the nonprofit Otter Project in Marina (Santa Cruz County), issued a statement Tuesday warning that the otters' survival is at risk from biological and chemical pollutants, a shortage of nutritious food, boat strikes, fishing gear entanglement and violence from humans.

"We used to think that a big oil spill was the only problem we had to overcome to save the otters," Ford said.

"That's still important, but in the meantime, we're constricting their range, putting them in contact with deadly chemicals, and booby-trapping the waters. It's obvious that something more needs to be done."
About sea otters

Physical characteristics: Average 4 feet long; males weigh about 65 pounds, females 45 pounds. They have webbed hind feet, strong canine teeth, retractable forepaw claws, closable ears and nostrils for swimming, and dense, waterproof fur.

Habitat: Found near shore in shallow waters, generally 115 feet deep or less. Kelp beds are the ideal environment.

Diet: Carnivorous. They eat 20-25 percent of their body weight each day of invertebrates such as abalone, clams, sea urchins, crabs, barnacles, snails, squid, chitons, worms and sea stars.

Behavior: Use tools for feeding; spend hours grooming to keep fur waterproof by coating it with skin oil. Males and females usually stay in separate groups.

Sources: Friends of the Sea Otter; "Marine Mammals of California" by Robert Orr and Roger Helm; Oregon Coast Aquarium; Enchantedlearning.com

Wednesday July 1, 2009, 11:31 am
Sea otters are so precious. I don't understand humanity, it makes me want to shout it through a megaphone that: "These sea otters are God's precious innocents who are struggling every day just to survive! If you care about them then show them! Stop polluting their oceans! Grab your friends and start cleaning up the mess humanity has caused these precious otters!!"