by Steve Atkinson
The Record
Januray 26, 2005
Sea Otters eat marine invertebrates and shellfish. According to the National Recovery Strategy for the Sea Otter in British Columbia, there is mounting evidence that many shellfish fisheries cannot co-exist in the presence of an established sea otter population. These consequences present challenges and opportunites for our society concerned with both the conservation of wildlife and the sustainability of harvestable shellfish resources.
This was the Socio-Economic Consideration discussed in the early afternoon of January 20, ironically the day after the Village of Tahsis public meeting on shellfish aquaculture, at a Community Workshop on Sea Otters held at the Tahsis Recreation Centre. The project is being carried out by the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and West Coast Aquatic Management Society.
There was a letter-sized brochure from the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection regarding the Wildlife at Risk concerning the sea otter. The brochure referred to research taking place at Checleset Bay, on Vancouver Island. It has shown that while the introduction of sea otters has greatly reduced the shellfish population, it is allowing extensive stands of kelp to develop. Kelp provides increased habitat for fish such as salmon, perch, greenling and lingcod. Some species of fish can be up to forty times more abundant in areas with otters than in areas that do not have them.
The sea otter could be one of many answers for the Village of Tahsis on addressing their concerns for the Fish Species at Risk issue. The presentation on issues over finfish and shellfish were a customary reminder to the village that "ecosystems are complex."
Included in the workshop presentation was sea otter biology as well as the history of their recovery.
There were pamphlets on the difference between the sea otter and the river otter. These pamphlets were done by two 16 year-old students doing a work study project for the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre.
According to their project, the main difference is that the river otter prefers a freshwater and coastal habitat. The sea otter can live its whole life out on temperate ocean coastal waters less than 1km from shore. Kelp beds are popular spots for sea otters. They float on their backs, alone or in large groups. Groups of sea otters are called rafts. The sea otter uses rocks as tools to break open hard-shelled prey or to dislodge prey such as abalone. They have the thickest fur of any living animal, with an incredible 100,000 or more hairs per square centimetre.
There was a letter-sized brochure from the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection regarding the Wildlife at Risk concerning the sea otter. It referred to the sea otter being once found in a great arc around the North Pacific. During the fur trade, demand for their pelts decimated the sea otter to a point of extinction in Canada.
Sea otters were reintroduced to Canadian waters between 1969 and 1972. This was a cooperative effort involving the BC government, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canadian Armed Forces, US Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, Alaska Fish and Game Department and US Atomic Energy Commission. Sea otters (taken from Amchitka Island and Prince William Sound) were released at the Bunsby Islands in Checleset Bay.
The last complete
survey of the BC sea otter population was carried out in 1995. At that
time there were about 1500 sea otters located along the west coast of
Vancouver Island and the central coast of BC.
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