U.S. Fish & Wildlife to host Arcata meeting about reintroducing sea otters
She said the current population of southern sea otters in California came from a group of around 50, found near Monterey Bay after European settlers decimated populations in the 1700s and 1800s.While reintroduction efforts in the 1960s and 1970s were successful in Washington, the southern sea otter didn’t take in Northern California or Oregon.Jennifer Kalt, director of Humboldt Baykeeper, said in Humboldt County, there have been some reports of visiting sea otters, but none have made a home along the North Coast of California. She said that Russian trappers who enslaved Indigenous people from what is now Alaska decimated the population locally.Jeffers said sea otters are keystone species — they eat sea urchins and keep the population in check. Otters could play a part in the restoration of local kelp forests because urchins have been eating a lot of kelp.“The kelp ecosystem is so out of balance now — we know the importance of the kelp forest for abalone, but also for all kinds of juvenile fish,” said Kalt.The abalone, which has great historic significance for people across the coast, has been hit hard, with the Northern California recreational red abalone fishery being closed since 2017.Read More
