October 28, 2017
Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest
The title picture above is one of only two I got of this lone Sea Otter, first I’ve ever seen in the inland waters of the Salish Sea. Full disclosure, I didn’t recognize it as such at the time; I just noted something unusual in shape, and snapped a couple of photos as we went by. In the boat, we are at some distance from creatures (especially in kelp beds — hazardous for props), plus the rolling of the boat, light reflecting off waves and such, means I miss more than I see, like the crowd of sealions this time rough-housing and leaping into the air — I didn’t catch a single decent photo.
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But sometimes I get lucky and catch something in a photo I didn’t know was significant until later. Like this Sea otter! I’ve seen them out on the open coast off the Olympic peninsula, but have only heard of occasional sightings here in the Salish Sea, and never come across one myself in all the boating I’ve done.
Lots of folks report sea otters in these waters, especially visitors to the San Juans, but those are almost invariably River otters...it’s understandable, they’re looking at an otter in the sea, and sea otters are high-profile wildlife. That’s why it’s useful to have photographs to be sure.
Most of the confirmed observations of sea otters are from whale-watch ops, who are out on the water frequently in the rough seas that they (and other marine mammals) prefer. Theres no organization I know that monitors sea otter sightings in Washington state the way whales/orcas are tracked, but the Sea Otter Research Program at Canadian Fisheries and Oceans has a sightings site (where I have reported this one).
From US and Canadian whale-watch op reports, news items and wildlife sites:
- 2014: one off the Saanich peninsula (Vancouver Isl), one off Lime Kiln Park, San Juan Island (possibly the same individual?)
- 2015: one at Race Rocks, off south side of Vancouver Isl.
- 2016: 5 sightings at Race Rocks (same individual? the whale-watch op biologist reporting thinks so)
- 2017: 4 sightings at Race Rocks, one off Sooke (SW Vancouver Isl)
Historical context:
Sea otters used to live in the Salish Sea, as elsewhere along the entire northern Pacific coastline of North America and Asia. Estimates range from 100,000 — 300,000 before intensive hunting beginning in the 1740s brought them to near extinction.
The Maritime Fur trade of the 18th and 19th Century ledto extirpation of the sea otter from most of its range by 1911 and by 1929 in BritishColumbia (Cowan and Guiguet 1960; Kenyon 1969). Small remnant colonies survivedalong the California coast and among the Aleutian and Kurile Islands and eventually became re-established. With the exception of California, however, areas to the south ofthe Gulf of Alaska remained unoccupied until translocation efforts commenced in the late1960’s and sea otters were re-introduced to parts of southeast Alaska, British Columbia,Washington and Oregon (Jameson et al. 1982). All but the Oregon re-introduction effortwere successful in establishing sea otters (Jameson et al. 1982).
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada pdf
Original distribution, showing the current range of the three subspecies of Enhydra lutris:
My October sighting off Lopez Island:
I saw this sea otter off the southern margin of the San Juan Islands, which lie between the bottom of Vancouver Island and mainland Washington, near the Canadian border. The individual I saw had either wandered down the Strait of Juan de Fuca from the NW corner of the Olympic Peninsula or down the west coast of Vancouver Island. Based on previous sea otter sightings in the Salish Sea) I suspect it’s the latter. The B.C. population has also been growing faster than the Washington population.
What might be drawing the sea otter I saw all the way across 15 miles of Haro Strait from Vancouver Isl to the San Juan Islands? My hypothesis (or SWAG) is it’s the urchins. Since the onset of the Seastar Wasting Disease epidemic in 2013, sea urchins have been proliferating in the absence of their main predator — seastars. Generally there’s a cascade effect with a population explosion of urchins: a loss of kelp beds, since urchins graze on giant kelp. This has been measured at one site in BC in 2016. In my area I’ve seen no obvious change in kelp beds (although I admit I’m looking from the surface).
There’s a commercial urchin fishery in Washington, the roe destined for Japan, and based on landings this year, divers are still collecting them. According to WDFW 350,000 pounds of urchins are available to catch this year, so far 220,000 have been landed.
I see commercial urchin boats out in this area fairly often. They may be keeping up with the increase in urchins. The boat in the photo to the right is just about exactly where I saw the sea otter, though not on the same day. Sea otters eat a great deal of food every day, and I can imagine the urchin divers might not be pleased with an expansion of otters into this area.
As for me, I’m thrilled to see a sea otter in these waters, returning home. I hope to see more!
(Video clip of the sea otter encounter in August 2014 on the Saanich peninsula, southeast Vanc Island:)
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