thinking on the translocation question had been affected by the 

 extent and duration of the Exxon Valdez oil spill (see Chapter IV 

 of this Report) and its impact on sea otters and other marine 

 species. Specifically, the team noted that a spill of similar 

 magnitude along the California coast could affect the coastline 

 from Point Reyes to the U.S. -Mexican border. Thus, the ability 

 to establish a sea otter colony outside the existing range was 

 seen as essential to ensure that a spill could not jeopardize the 

 continued existence of this population. 



The Recovery Team recognized that the translocation effort 

 to date has had only limited success (fewer than 2 5 percent of 

 the sea otters moved to San Nicolas Island have remained there) . 

 However, because of the recent experience with the Exxon Valdez 

 spill, the Recovery Team recommended that additional sea otters 

 be moved to San Nicolas Island in order to determine experi- 

 mentally the optimum composition and number of otters to trans- 

 locate in order to establish new colonies. 



After reviewing the available data on loss rates of trans- 

 located otters, the Team concluded that size of the animal did 

 not affect the loss rate. In order to maximize the probability 

 that translocated animals or their pups will not emigrate from 

 San Nicolas Island, the Team recommended the following age and 

 sex composition for use in selecting animals for translocation: 

 20 adult females with dependent pups; 15 animals (of either sex) 

 under 35 pounds; 10 multiparous females thought to be pregnant; 

 and 5 adult males. The Team further recommended that a minimum 

 of 20 animals translocated in year three be instrumented with 

 radio transmitters to facilitate monitoring. 



Finally, the Team proposed the following failure criteria to 

 be used in evaluating the success of the translocation: (1) the 

 loss rate of translocated animals in year three is not signifi- 

 cantly better than the loss rate from years one and two; and 

 (2) pup production at San Nicolas does not occur in either years 

 three or four. 



Early in 1990, the Commission, in consultation with its 

 Committee of Scientific Advisors, will review the continuing 

 efforts by the Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a sea otter 

 colony on San Nicolas Island and actions to update the Southern 

 Sea Otter Recovery Plan. 



North Pacific Fur Seal (Callorhinus ursinus) 



North Pacific or northern fur seals occur seasonally in 

 waters throughout the northern rim of the North Pacific Ocean 

 from southern California to Japan. The species was taken 

 commercially for its pelt from the 1700s to 1984 and is presently 

 taken by Native residents of the Pribilof Islands in Alaska for 



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