Marin forums planned on sea otter reintroduction
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is planning two events in Marin County this week to discuss the potential reintroduction of sea otters to Northern California waters for the first time since the 19th century.
The events in Point Reyes Station and Sausalito come a year after the agency released an assessment stating that otter reintroduction could be feasible. Potential sites could include Drakes Estero, San Francisco Bay and the Sonoma County coast.
The first open house is set for 5 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Point Reyes National Seashore’s Bear Valley Visitor Center at 75 Bear Valley Road. A second session is planned from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Bay Model Visitor Center at 2100 Bridgeway in Sausalito.
Wildlife officials said the reintroduction could help expand the population of sea otters, currently estimated to number 3,000 in California. Their range is the central and southern coasts.
The proposal has raised economic concerns, especially in the fishing industry, because of the otters’ voracious appetites for Dungeness crab, a lucrative catch for the northern California fishing communities. Sea otters must eat about 25% of their body weight each day in order to survive in the colder Pacific Ocean waters.
“As the service considers the possibility of reintroduction, we recognize that community values and issues are critical in this process,” the agency stated in an announcement this month. “Input from the public and key stakeholders, including ocean users, will be a foundational component in establishing next steps, including whether or not a potential reintroduction is proposed, as well as ensuring that proposals are crafted in a way that benefits stakeholders and local communities.”
Approximately 16,000 to 20,000 sea otters were estimated to have lived in California before they were hunted nearly to extinction during the 1700s and 1800s. By the mid-1800s, the northern California populations of sea otters had been wiped out.
The state’s current population of sea otters comes from about 50 otters that were discovered by the California Department of Fish and Game in 1914. The U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1977 listed sea otters as a threatened species.
Otters have been able to reestablish as far north as Pigeon Point along the San Mateo County coast. However, they have been unable to establish populations north of the Golden Gate because of attacks by great white sharks. The sharks often take test bites of the otters and generally do not eat them.
Jeff Boehm, a spokesperson for the Marine Mammal Center, said the shark bites often prove fatal, with dozens of otters coming into the center’s hospital in the Marin Headlands each year.
Boehm said the events this week will provide federal wildlife officials and the public the chance to discuss the potential reintroduction.
“We’re really keen to see this exploration taking place,” Boehm said. “This is a beloved iconic species on our coast that has really kind of plateaued in its population numbers.”
Terry Sawyer, a cofounder of the Hog Island Oyster Co. at Tomales Bay, said he worked with the Monterey Bay Aquarium for six years on sea otter rehabilitation. Sawyer said that while there are examples of coexistence between otters and aquaculture in Morro Bay and in Alaska, there are many variables that come with reintroducing a species.
Sawyer is concerned about the limited food availability along the northern California coast.
“We’re talking about ecosystems out of balance. They are already going to be impacted,” Sawyer said. “They’re talking about trying to reintroduce an amazing animal but there are a lot of unanswered questions.”