Sea Otter

“...in 1969 and 1970, 59 otters were moved from Amchitka Island in Alaska to areas along the Washington coast...many animals were found washed ashore dead....It's estimated that the otters...are descended from as few as 10 animals.... In 2014, we counted a high of 1,573 otters....the increase...has been about eight percent per year—one of the highest growth rates for otters populations anywhere.”

“Trends in cultural values toward protection of species based on imperiled status rather than economics led to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972), giving sea otters unambiguous protection in all US territorial waters.” In southwest Alaska and California, Sea Otters are protected by the Endangered Species Act, and in Canada, by the Species at Risk Act.

“The sea otter has reappeared off the California coast after a long absence. The rare animals were believed reduced to one herd in the Aleutian Islands until some 90 of them were counted near Monterey recently. Killing of them is prohibited by state and federal law.”

“By 1911, when sea otters came under the protection of the Fur Seal Agreement, 170 years after the beginning of the commercial hunt, the total population of sea otters had declined to a mere 1,000 to 2,000 animals in thirteen remnant populations.” It is considered the first international treaty targeted at wildlife conservation.

“The animal is a descendant of an extinct race, and really belongs to a past age. He is shy and hard to locate, employing clever means to avoid the enemy. Sea otters are most frequently found in masses of what is known to the sailors as ‘bladder kelp,'....This kelp, like the animal that inhabits it, is a relic of bygone ages.”

“The hunting of them on the coast of California is no longer profitable for more than two or three hunters, and we believe of late some seasons have passed without any one legitimately engaging in the enterprise...”

“In the territory of Alaska alone, Russians killed an estimated 800,000 sea otters between 1742 and 1867....from 1790 to 1800 more than 10,000 pelts a year were obtained by American vessels...” In California and Baja California between 1786 and 1868, 200,000 were killed, or an average of 2,400 per year.

“They were so abundant in 1812 that they were killed by boatmen with their oars in passing through the kelp.”

“We are informed, that, on Mednoi and Beering's Island, scarce a sea-otter is now to be found...” Reaching China's Macau, Cook writes, “...sea-otter skins...every day,...rising in their value.”

“With warm-blooded sea animals the Bering Island region is more copiously provided. When we arrived there the sea beavers (or sea otters, Lutris) were present in large numbers….over seven hundred otters were…killed by us, eaten, and their skins taken along to Kamchatka as tokens…”