Pacific Spirit Marine Institute

Sea Otters Find a Friend in Canada!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

There were 40 long years between 1929 and 1969. Long years following the fur trade, and they were completely void of Sea Otters in Canada.

Between 1969 and 1972 however, 89 Sea Otters were brought from Amchitka and Prince William Sound in Alaska to the west coast of Vancouver Island. There on Checleset Bay these Sea Otters struggled to repopulate and thrive, but by 1978 their population had only increased by less than 10.

In an act of friendship Canada placed the Sea Otter on SARA. (Species at Risk Act) and the northern Sea Otter was designated as Endangered in Canada.

It would be nearly 20 more long years before the Otters finally increased their population to approximately 1,500 and in 1996 were no longer classified as endangered. The Otters were considered to be only Threatened, but still at risk.

The DFO developed a National Recovery Strategy for the Sea Otter in British Columbia and SARA “prohibits killing, harming, harassing, capturing and taking Sea Otters. Damaging or destroying Sea Otter residences and any other part of Sea Otters ‘critical’ habitat.”

Watch this vintage footage and see how other friends of the Sea Otter at The Marine Mammal Care Center Fort MacArthur San Pedro Ca. prove the old saying “a friend in need,is a friend indeed.”