Defenders' Experts
Creation of a Sea Otter Translocation Program and Management Zone
Because of conflicts with fisheries caused by sea otters, in November of 1986, Congress passed Public Law 99-625, which called for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a "no-otter management zone" extending from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County south to the Mexican border. Under this law, the Service was required to "use all feasible non-lethal means" to remove and relocate any sea otters found in the management zone.
Unfortunately, the translocation program has proven to be a failure. By the year 2000, experts had projected a population of 400-500 sea otters at San Nicolas Island. But instead, fifteen years after last sea otter was released at the Island, less than 40 of the relocated otters remain. Some otters returned to the mainland to the north, while others moved into a no-otter management zone created in November of 1986.
The conservation and scientific research communities believe the translocation program and the no-otter management zone have not been a success and have, in fact, run counter to the goal of southern sea otter recovery. Less than one fifth of the original animals relocated to San Nicolas Island are accounted for, and sea otters have been moving in and out of the management zone seasonally since 1998. In addition, the southern sea otter population has declined or failed to increase in 9 of 13 years between 1995 and 2008.
Since the passage of the Congressional law in 1986, the Fish and Wildlife Service has changed its position regarding translocation, arguing against moving any otters that swam into the "no-otter management zone".
Comments on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS): Translocation of Southern Sea Otters
Comments were submitted by Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Sea Otter, The Humane Society of the United States, The Ocean Conservancy, Sea Otter Defense Initiative, a program of Earth Island Institute’s International Marine Mammal Project, and developed with the assistance of the Law Offices of Donald B. Mooney, Ocean Research, Conservation, and Solutions Consulting, and Perkins Coie, LLP.
Cover letter to the extensive comments submitted to the United States Fish & Wildlife Service on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Translocation of Southern Sea Otters.
Extensive comments submitted to the United States Fish & Wildlife Service on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Translocation of Southern Sea Otters.
Southern Sea Otter DSEIS Comment Paper Exhibits (Supplemental Materials to Comments)
Comment letter from 77 scientists on Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Translocation of Southern Sea Otters.
Letter from the Federal Marine Mammal Commission to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on southern sea otter policy and recovery issues (dated August 23, 1979).
Minutes of Marine Mammal Commission meeting on Southern Sea Otters: Policy Issues and Recovery (dated December 13, 1979).
Letter from the Federal Marine Mammal Commission to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Southern sea otter policy and recovery issues (dated December 2, 1980).
Reply letter from the U.S. Department of Interior to the California Department of Fish and Game on southern sea otter policy and recovery issues (dated December 9, 1980).
Friends of the Sea Otter comment letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the technical draft to Southern Sea Otter Recovery Plan (dated July 9, 1980).
Marine Mammal Commission comment letter on the technical draft to the Southern Sea Otter Recovery Plan (dated July 11, 1980).
Comment letter on the Marine Mammal Commission's draft Action Plan to Promote Recovery of and Identify the Optimal Conservation Strategy for the California Sea Otter Population (dated March 1, 2000).
Friends of the Sea Otter Comment Letter on the Southern Sea Otter Draft Revised Recovery Plan (dated April 10, 2000).
Friends of the Sea Otter Comment Letter on the Southern Sea Otter Draft Revised Recovery Plan (dated April 10, 2000).
Western Ecological Research Center and U.S. Geological Survey (February 2006)
Loomis, John B. Economic benefits of expanding Californias Southern sea otter population. Prepared for Defenders of Wildlife (December 2005)
Estes, J.A., D.R. Lindberg, and C. Wray, 2005. Evolution of large body size in abalones (Haliotis): patterns and implications. Paleobiology 31(4): 591-606 Paper examining how and when large body size in abalones developed.
