THE SEA OTTER IN THE EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN 281 



mothers dived for food. Although the young otters would have 

 been easy prey, I never saw an eagle attempt to take one. 



My observations indicate that predation by the Bald Eagle on 

 the sea otter is unimportant. 



Environmental Pollution 



Fur cleanliness is essential to the sea otter's survival. If the fur 

 becomes soiled by foreign matter it loses its water-repellent charac- 

 teristics, the insulating blanket of air among the dense fur fibers 

 is lost, the animal is chilled, and soon dies. 



Pollution of waters by oil and other by-products of industrial 

 development preclude the possibility that the sea otter can today 

 reoccupy all of its former habitat. San Francisco Bay, in early 

 years, "abounded in otters" (Ogden, 1941). Pollution by oil and 

 other wastes today would certainly preclude their survival there 

 or in the vicinity of the Golden Gate. Periodically the outer coast 

 of Washington State, which once supported a thriving sea otter 

 population, is polluted by oil from the many ships which navigate 

 the Strait of Juan de Fuca. That a permanent population of sea 

 otters could today survive in this otherwise ideal coastal habitat 

 is questionable. 



Not only is the sea otter affected directly by habitat pollution 

 but where pollution is acute, as in San Francisco Bay, food organ- 

 isms are also affected and reduced or eliminated. 



Poaching 



Poaching or illegal killing of sea otters in Alaska is not known 

 to be a serious problem. Holger Larsen of the U.S. Fish and Wild- 

 life Service said "it has been known that illegal furs have moved 

 through Valdez since 1938" (Seattle Times, 2 February 1956). 

 The only arrests in recent years, however, were of a Fairbanks fur 

 dealer in 1944 for the possession of a sea otter and of two men in 

 an Anchorage hotel on 1 February 1956 who had in their posses- 

 sion eight sea otter pelts. Ray Woolford of the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service said (letter of 18 March 1964) : 



Probably more sea otters are accidentally shot by inexperienced seal hunters 

 than are deliberately killed with the intent to commercialize on fur. I think the 

 accidental kills by seal hunters and others traveling coastal waters have a 

 potential for increasing so long as seals remain unprotected and a bounty is 

 paid on them. 



