Mike’s caveat of river otters in the lower Columbia River and Tom Crabtree’s
question on whether the Yaquina Head otter was a sea otter or river otter are
well founded. When I was was still working I annually received reports of sea
otters along the Oregon coast from the public. In all cases where behavior was
well explained or photos and videos were provided I was able to determine that
they were indeed river otters. I have personally seen river otters all along
the Oregon coast. At some offshore locations, including Oregon, river otters
can seriously impact burrow-nesting seabirds by excavating the burrows and
consuming the birds.
There are more than 30 observations of sea otters in Oregon since 2008, but all
of these observations or carcasses found on the beach are of single individuals
and most if not all of them are likely to be juveniles males which are known to
wander away from established populations. Sea otters are non-migratory and
have a tiny home range of about 6 sq. miles so their ability to reestablish
populations in areas (like Oregon) where they have been extirpated is very
limited. Mike Patterson probably did see sea otters at Shore Acres in the
1970’s as attempts were made into reestablish them on the Oregon south coast
when animals from amchicka Is, AK were released in 1970 and 1971. Some of
those animals persisted for a while and some pups were seen but the animals
disappeared and the attempts failed. During the same period sea otter were
reintroduced on the Washington coast and that endeavor was successful and today
there are about 3,000 sea otters thriving there.
Sea otters in Oregon are most likely northern sea otters from Washington.
Southern sea otter have a difficult time even reaching Marin County, CA (north
of San Francisco) or beyond because they have to attempt pass through the Red
Triangle (Great White Shark Triangle). The same if true on the southern end of
their range near Point Conception and in recent years shark predation on sea
otters in Monterey Bay has been on the rise.
Should we be openly discussing sea otter sightings in Oregon or keeping them
confidential? For many years I was in the latter camp. My concern was
reinforced by a commercial urchin fisherman in the early1990’s during the
booming Oregon urchin fishery who told me if they saw a sea otter they would
shoot. Perhaps that was nothing more than bluster but I took it to heart. I
had already decided that it was important for the public to know about sea
otters and if possible to see and enjoy them especially now that the Elakha
Alliance is making great progress in determining if sea otters should be
reintroduced here. Watching the gathering crowd at Yaquina Head yesterday and
the excitement and awe they expressed was heart-warming even for an old codger
like. And we were looking at a single animal that was way offshore at the time!
This is a bird listerv but there is an important bird connection to the sea
otter story. Sea otters are Keystone species and their foraging on urchins
keeps the urchin population in check and kelp forests healthy. Now that we
have also lost sea star and sunstars the urchin population is exploding and
kelp forests are be further diminished. In the past five years ODFW has
documented a 10,000% increase in the purple sea urchin population and similar
fingers are occurring in northern California! Kelp forest provide food and
cover for a variety fish and invertebrate populations which in turn provide
forage for a variety of birds. If you don’t believe me spend some time scoping
a kelp bed at different times of the year and you’ll be impressed.
And if you are still reading this the otter is being seen at Yaquina Head this
morning.
Roy Lowe
Waldport, OR
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/rloweiii/
<https://www.instagram.com/rloweiii/>
Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24707703@N06/ ;
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/24707703@N06/>
On Nov 21, 2021, at 8:00 AM, celata@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Does this mean we can now "officially" report sightings elsewhere on
the coast?
I will begin with the caveat that most of the "sea otters" I've seen
on the Lower Columbia were, in fact, ocean-going River Otters and the
rule of thumb is that if it comes out of the water and crawls up on
to the jetty, it is, almost certainly, not a Sea Otter. I've also seen
River Otters frolicking in the ocean at Bob's Creek (Lane Co.?).
I have absolutely no doubt that the otter Roy reports is unequivocally a
Sea Otter (if anybody on this list should know, it's him).
But I can remember all the way back into the dim late-70' when I'm
pretty sure I saw Sea Otters off Shoreacres, Coos Co. and I've seen more
than one undocumented, but likely, candidate off the South Jetty of the
Columbia in the 35 years I've been doing seawatches. My reports to
potentially interested government agencies have be met not so much
with skepticism as "we don't talk about sea otters."
So, I haven't talked about them. Neither have several other observers
I trust. We believe Lower Columbia Sea Otters are youngsters from
the North rather than California transients.
--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
I don't know...
http://www.surfbirds.com/community-blogs/northcoastdiaries/?p=3924
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