Bolstering climate resiliency
What’s at stake
Southern sea otters are at risk from destructive climate change impacts such as harmful algal blooms, ocean acidification, and habitat loss. Simultaneously, the sea otter is California’s first line of defense for our underwater parks, which double as massive carbon sinks. As kelp keepers, sea otters play a critical role in the fight against climate change. Responding to climate change will require a sustained, multipronged approach to both mitigate impacts and manage the resulting disruptions. We must act to protect our coastal ecosystems – and our way of life.
Our solutions
Building climate ‘hope spots’
A complement to Marine Protect Areas (MPAs), California has identified 34 Areas of Special Biological Significance (ASBS) to protect water quality in some of the state’s most unique and sensitive ocean environments. MPAs and ASBS serve as ocean ‘hope spots,’ providing a buffer to climate change and disturbances compared to unprotected areas. ASBS protect a wide array of habitats and species (like the southern sea otter), preserve California’s coastal heritage, and support the integrity of our blue economy.
Despite their legal protections, these underwater parks remain at risk from pollution caused by heavy urban runoff from storm drains, treated sewage, and road and landscape runoff from homes and golf courses.
We are protecting the sea otter’s sensitive marine habitat from polluted runoff by advocating that the State Water Board reviews and revises the ASBS program to prohibit the alteration of natural water quality in these areas.
Curbing agricultural pollution
Water discharges from agricultural operations in California pose significant threats to water quality by transporting pollutants, pathogens, and heavy metals from cultivated fields into surface and groundwater. Increased sediment pollution due to the destruction of natural riparian zones by intensive farming eventually makes its way to California’s coastline, smothering the marine plants that sequester carbon and provide nursery habitat for valuable fish species, while nutrient pollution causes toxic algal blooms that threaten sea otter health. Climate change is intensifying storm events and exacerbating these problems. California must develop policies that protect our waterways from pollution while supporting our thriving agricultural economy.
The Otter Project oversees and challenges permits for irrigated agricultural operations and dairy farms, as necessary, to ensure that they hold permittees accountable for achieving milestones and timelines that prevent the degradation of our waterways from nitrate pollution. We educate relevant stakeholders about the negative water quality impacts caused by large-scale agricultural operations. The Otter Project seeks the State Water Board’s revision of livestock grazing best practices, a prohibition on livestock access to riparian areas, and the development of a Biological Policy.
Preventing ocean acidification hot spots
The ocean is becoming more acidic due to climate change, a condition that often co-occurs with depleted oxygen levels, or hypoxia, due to warmer surface waters. Additionally, nutrient pollution increases nearshore algal blooms and contributes to ocean acidification and hypoxia. Ocean acidification and hypoxia have enormous implications on the health and productivity of marine ecosystems, including the shellfish that sea otters rely on for food. The Otter Project works to prevent ocean wastewater discharges and agricultural nutrient inputs from causing ocean acidification and hypoxia hot spots that put sea otters at risk.