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Washing Oiled Sea Otters
In what can only be a twist of fate “Washing Oiled Sea Otters” was published in the Wildlife Society Bulletin issue 38(1), March 24, 2012, the 23rd anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and the roll out date of seaotters.com. The bottom line on this paper is that using some new tools and technology, [...]
Plastic Pollutes!
It seems like such a harmless choice, one that’s far too easy to make. You’re driving along in your car and you get thirsty, but you’ve forgotten your trusty stainless steel water bottle. So you swing by a convenience store and buy a bottle of water. While you’re at it you get a snack. No [...]
The Luckenbach Oil Spill and Sea Otters
By Steve Hampton, Ph.D. In late 1973, over a hundred live oiled birds appeared along the California coast line north and south of the Golden Gate. For the next 30 years, this would happen again and again, usually in the winter after large storms. Sometimes thousands of oiled birds would wash up, most of them [...]
H.R. 4043 and the “No Otter Zone”
It’s hard not to get a bit nervous when you testify before a Congressional Committee in Washington D.C. It is, after all, the seat of government of the most powerful nation on earth at a time a great turmoil and upheaval. Even seemingly small issues, like whether sea otters will be allowed to expand their [...]
Olive the Oiled Sea Otter
If you Google the title of this blog you will find a Facebook pagedeveloped in 2009 chronicling the rescue, treatment, recovery and release of Olive the Oiled Sea Otter. At the time it was a neat story with a happy ending and, but little known to most of her followers, Olive served at the proof [...]
Please Remember Sea Otters on Tax Day!
The sea otters that live off the coast of California are in trouble. As many or more adults die each year as there are young otters that survive to adulthood. The reasons for this are several and not totally understood, but quite a few are the result of things people do, or put into the [...]
Sea Otter Mortality from White Sharks in California
Brian Hatfield (USGS), Michael Harris (CDFG), Tim Tinker (USGS), and Jack Ames(CDFG) In 1968 the California Department of Fish and Game began a program to attempt to document and examine all beach-cast sea otter carcasses in California and to assign a cause of death to each case, when possible. In general, these works revealed that [...]
Harmful Algal Blooms and Marine Mammals
In every drop of seawater is a teeming world of microscopic organisms including bacteria, zooplankton, and phytoplankton. The phytoplankton, or algae, are the “grasses of the sea”, turning inorganic nutrients and carbon dioxide into organic material and oxygen. The vast majority of phytoplankton are beneficial; however, a small fraction of them can cause problems by [...]
It All Flows Downhill
From the time we were little we have heard that water flows downhill……and indeed that’s true. Water and all the “stuff” that’s in it, including chemicals, hormones, bacteria and viruses, parasite eggs (to say nothing of the “stuff” the parasite eggs are in), particulates and plastics, cigarette butts, all kinds of things. Creeks flow into [...]
Food Choices and Location Influence California Sea Otter Exposure to Disease
By Tim Tinker and Gloria Maender Sea otters living along the central California coast risk higher exposure to disease-causing parasites as a consequence of the food they eat and where they feed. Sea otters that eat small marine snails are at a higher risk of exposure to Toxoplasma gondii, a potentially deadly protozoal pathogen, than [...]
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