Chapter 11 — Species of Special Concern 



Sea Otter 

 (Enhydra lutris) 



Sea otters historically inhabited the coastal waters 

 of the North Pacific Ocean from central Baja Califor- 

 nia, Mexico, north along the coasts of California, 

 Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and southern 

 Alaska; west through the Aleutian, Pribilof, and 

 Commander Islands; and south along the Kamchatka 

 Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, and the islands of north- 

 em Japan. Commercial hunting of sea otters for their 

 fur began in the mid- 1700s, shortly after the discovery 

 of the Commander Islands by Vitus Bering. Hunting 

 continued, largely unregulated, until 1911 when the 

 species was protected by the North Pacific Fur Seal 

 Convention, an agreement signed by the United 

 States, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan. Small 

 groups of sea otters survived in remote areas in the 

 Soviet Union, Alaska, and central California. 



The Central California Population 



The remnant sea otter population in California 

 occupied a few miles of nearshore habitat along the 

 rocky Point Sur coast and may have numbered fewer 

 than 50 animals in 191 1 when hunting was prohibited 

 by the Fur Seal Convention. Protected by the Con- 

 vention and later by the State of California, the 

 population grew slowly until, by the mid-1970s, it 

 numbered nearly 1,800 animals and inhabited near- 

 shore areas along approximately 160 miles of the 

 central California coast. At that time, the risk of oil 

 spills along the central California coast was expected 

 to increase, due largely to the expected increase in 

 tanker traffic transporting oil ft"om the Trans-Alaska 

 pipeline, then nearing completion. 



Because of its small size, its limited distribution, 

 and the increasing threat of oil spills and other cata- 

 strophic events, the population was designated as 

 threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 

 January 1977. Recognizing that range expansion was 

 the best way to minimize the risk posed by oil spills 

 and that range expansion could impact commercial 

 and recreational abalone and other shellfish fisheries 

 that developed in the absence of sea otters, the Com- 

 mission in December 1980 recommended that the Fish 

 and Wildlife Service adopt and implement a "zonal" 



management strategy for sea otters and recreational 

 and commercial shellfish fisheries in California. The 

 Fish and Wildlife Service concurred with the Commis- 

 sion's recommendation and incorporated the zonal 

 management concept into the Southern Sea Otter 

 Recovery Plan adopted in February 1982. 



The Fish and Wildlife Service initiated efforts in 

 1981 to identify possible sites for establishing one or 

 more "reserve" sea otter colonies in California, 

 develop a translocation plan, and assess the possible 

 environmental and economic consequences of re- 

 establishing sea otters in additional parts of their 

 historic California range. In 1985, Congress directed 

 that the Service develop a translocation plan. In the 

 fall of 1986, Congress passed Public Law 99-625, 

 which included provisions authorizing and encourag- 

 ing the development and implementation of a plan to 

 establish at least one sea otter colony outside the then 

 existing sea otter range in California. The law 

 required that the plan specify a translocation zone that 

 would meet the habitat needs of the translocated 

 animals and provide a buffer against possible adverse 

 activities that may occur outside the zone. It also 

 required that the area surrounding the translocation 

 zone be designated a "management zone" firom which 

 sea otters are to be excludaJ by non-lethal means to 

 prohibit range expansion and protect fishery resources 

 south of Point Conception. 



The Fish and Wildlife Service subsequently devel- 

 oped and adopted a plan to establish a reserve sea 

 otter colony at San Nicolas Island, one of the Califor- 

 nia Chaimel Islands. Implementation of the plan 

 required cooperative efforts by the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service and the California Department of Fish and 

 Game. To clarify their respective roles, the two 

 agencies concluded a Memorandum of Understanding 

 on 18 August 1987. Among other things, the Memo- 

 randum specified that: 



• the Fish and Wildlife Service will be responsible 

 for providing funds and personnel necessary to 

 implement, enforce, and carry out the transloca- 

 tion program; 



• if verified sightings of sea otters are made at any 

 location within the designated management zone 

 ("no-otter zone"), the Fish and Wildlife Service 



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