Habitat of Sea Otters in Alaska Now Protected
12.10.2009 - Logistics, Water & Oceans, Flora & Fauna, Other, Arctic
Sea otters used to be plentiful in the 1970's with a population of about 100,000, yet with fewer than 40,000 left and 90% of the species found in Alaska, it was placed on the US Endangered Species List in 2005. Now, some four years later, another move has been taken to protect the habitat of sea otters: With the US Fish and Wildlife Service designating an area of about 15,300 square kilometres (5,900 square miles) along the coasts of the Aleutian Islands, the Bering Sea and the Alaska Peninsula as "critical habitat", the species is being offered a fair chance at survival.
Protecting a species' habitat is a measure that has already proved successful in the past. The shallow waters near the coast will provide the sea otters with any species they usually feed on, while offering protection from predators such as killer whales. However, very little can be done about killer whales, and other stressors, such as overfishing, potential oil development in Bristol Bay, and climate change in the Bering Sea remain to be addressed.
The new designation will by no means halt development; however developers will now have to go through additional review before undertaking new activities, as they will have to determine the future effects their activities might have on sea otters.
