[CKF Info] otter sighting - Ventura

[Scott Dunn]

Hi Mary et al,
   
  Otters coming from the islands is not a true statement, or at least very very improbable.
   
  The only channel island that Sea Otters call home is San Nicolas, and that population is relatively stable from what I hear.
   
  The Sea Otters that we are likely seeing are coming from up north past Pt Conception.
   
  Over the last several years we have been seeing more and more otters in Santa Barbara, and now there seems to be an actual breading colony in northern Santa Barbara.  Last count was about 35 animals with adults and youngsters in evidence.
   
  A bit of history on Sea Otters gleaned from the web...
   
  Sea otters originally inhabited the North Pacific coast in an almost continuous band stretching from Baja California across the Aleutians to northern Japan. There once may have been as many as 300,000 sea otters. By 1911, when sea otters were protected by international treaty, only 13 isolated otter colonies remained; most of these became extinct. From this low point, the species slowly began to recover. Several surviving Alaskan populations reoccupied former habitats. The surviving California population also began recovering from a low of about 50 animals. Beginning in 1965, efforts were made to recolonize former habitats by translocating Alaskan otters to areas in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California.
  Sea otters now occupy most of their historical range west from Prince William Sound in Alaska to the Russian Kurile Islands. They are also found in southeast Alaska, Vancouver Island, northern Washington, and central and southern California. Recent estimates of the species' total population have ranged as high as 168,000. The California sea otter population was listed as threatened in 1977. The range in central California now stretches from about Point Año Nuevo south to the Santa Maria River. The population is growing and currently numbers more then 2.000
  In 1987, the Fish and Wildlife Service began translocating sea otters from central California to San Nicolas Island in southern California. By 1991, 139 sea otters had been translocated, of which only 10-15 were still present at the island. The remainder were back on the mainland coast, dead, or missing. Twenty-one pups had been born at San Nicolas. Although this is a decline of almost 90 percent, similar declines have occurred in the first year or two following all other translocations, most of which eventually succeeded.
  Sea otters breed and pup throughout the year, and there appears to be one or more peaks in most parts of the range. Females typically give birth to a single pup, and pups remain with their mothers for 4 to 8 months. In California, otters live in waters less than 65 feet deep and rarely move more than a mile offshore. California sea otters feed almost entirely on large invertebrates, including abalones, crabs, sea urchins, clams, snails, mussels, octopus, barnacles, scallops, sea stars, chitons, and worms. Sea otters in California rarely eat fish.
  

MicroCapMaven at aol.com wrote:
          Mary:
   
  I saw an otter off the beach north of the Mandalay Beach power plant last winter. Thought that my eyes were deceiving me, but your sighting reinforces it.
   
  Regards,
George Miller
~~~~~~~~~~~

   
    In a message dated 5/19/2008 9:23:47 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, mary_paddles at yahoo.com writes:
      I was paddling north of Ventura on Saturday (in my shiny new boat) and saw an otter - at about Emma Woods.  I talked to some who said they come over from the islands, where they are being re-introduced - I have no idea whether this is true or not....

But it was cool to see!

Mary








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