Act, it required the concurrence of the California Fish and Game 

 Commission and consultations within the Fish and Wildlife Service 

 pursuant to section 7 of the Act. 



Steps taken by the Commission and others to make the 

 required determinations and satisfy the conditions of applicable 

 statutes and requlations are described in the Commission's 

 previous Annual Reports. A final rule and record of decision 

 regarding the translocation was issued by the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service on 11 August 1987. 



Following this action, a group representing several fishing 

 interests filed suit in California State Court seeking a 

 temporary restraining order to stop the translocation from 

 proceeding. This and subsequent efforts, described in the 

 Commission's previous Annual Reports, failed to block or overturn 

 the proposed action. 



Summary of Translocation Efforts To Date 



Capture of sea otters for translocation to San Nicolas 

 Island was initiated on 24 August 1987 by biologists from the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish 

 and Game. During the first two years of the effort (11 August 

 1987 through 11 August 1989) , a total of 228 sea otters were 

 caught along the central California coast. Of these, 134 were 

 judged to be healthy and of the right age and sex for trans- 

 location and were transported by van to the Monterey Bay 

 Aquarium, tagged, screened for possible health abnormalities, and 

 prepared for shipment to San Nicolas Island. Five otters died 

 while at the Aquarium and four others were returned to the 

 original capture site and released. The remaining 125 sea otters 

 (29 males and 96 females) were flown to San Nicolas Island in 

 groups of 1-24 animals. During the last four and a half months 

 of 1989 (the beginning of year three) , an additional 10 sea 

 otters (two males and eight females) were captured and 

 translocated to San Nicolas Island. 



During November 1989, only 12 of the 135 animals taken to 

 San Nicolas Island were sighted in the vicinity of the island. 

 Of the remaining otters taken to the island, 29 had been sighted 

 back in the existing California sea otter range, four had last 

 been seen in the "no-otter" Management Zone; 10 (four males and 

 six females) were known to be dead, three were suspected to have 

 been caught and killed in fishing gear, and the remaining 77 were 

 unaccounted for. 



Containment — From September 1987 through July 1988, 

 there were 37 reports and 15 verified sightings of sea otters 

 within the designated Management Zone. During the second year of 

 the translocation, reports of sea otters sighted in the 

 Management Zone dropped by about 50 percent. From August 1988 



41 



