Five Reasons to Celebrate the Otter During Sea Otter Awareness Week
It’s Sea Otter Awareness Week! The southern sea otter is undeniably charismatic and a beloved siting for anyone lucky enough to visit to our gorgeous California coastline. Threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 1977, sea otters are in need of strong advocates and additional protections. Their value is more than just a cute and playful exterior – here are five reasons why defending the southern sea otter is an investment in our local communities.
1. SEA OTTERS ARE CLIMATE SUPERHEROES: The southern sea otter is California's first line of defense for our underwater parks, which double as massive carbon sinks. Kelp captures 20x more CO2/acre than land forests, and kelp forests with thriving sea otter populations sequester 12x more carbon. By helping these parks thrive, sea otters can help sequester an estimated $205-400 million worth of carbon annually or the equivalent of 3-6 million passenger cars from the road each year.
2. KELP KEEPERS: With their voracious appetite to keep sea urchin populations at bay, sea otters maintain the health of kelp forests. Here at home, a 2014 marine heat wave and break out of star wasting disease already wiped out over 90% of CA's north coast kelp. Yet, in Monterey Bay, where the sea otter’s population is at its strongest, small patches of kelp forests persevered where the small, yet mighty, marine mammal consumed enough urchins to prevent forest devastation. And, technically, they’re not kelp exclusive! Sea otters protect our seagrass too! For example, in the Elkhorn Slough estuary “eelgrass had nearly disappeared by the early 1980s due to declining water quality – nutrient pollution from farms increased algal growth, smothering the seagrass. But since the return of the otters, the eelgrass has expanded by more than sixfold.”
3. ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION: Not only do they actively keep our kelp, but sea otters can bring kelp back from the dead! In the Aleutian Islands these miracle ecosystem engineers demonstrated their ability to restore entire kelp forests from ocean deserts—transforming urchin barrens into kelp forests as sea otters recolonized islands.
4. MONEY MAKERS: The southern sea otter is vital to the success of California’s coastal communities. Sea otters' role as kelp keepers supports thousands of diverse wildlife and provides economic support for coastal communities. Beneficial ripple effects of a recovered sea otter population—such as healthier kelp forests, higher fish catches, carbon storage and tourism—could be worth as much as $53 million per year. The increased kelp production alone, leading to a greater abundance of nutritional subsidy and carbon sequestration, was valued at $16M/year.
5. TEAM PLAYERS: Protecting southern sea otter habitat provides an economic boost to other fisheries. Marine Protected Areas (MPA), such as the Central Coast MPA are critical to the protection of the sea otter, result in healthier ecosystems, and allow for a greater abundance in fish species. For example, a 2021 study found that, after 6-years, spill-over from MPAs led to a 225% increase in total catch in the spiny lobster fishery in southern California despite a 35% fishing area reduction.