Too cute to be a threatened species
© Meredith Mullins

Protecting the Southern Sea Otter

Who wins the coveted “Most Adorable” award in the marine mammal yearbook year after year?

The California Sea Otter—hands down (or paws up, depending on your perspective).

If you travel to the California Central Coast and look to the Pacific Ocean or its estuaries (or visit the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium), chances are good that you will see some playful Southern Sea Otters. And you’ll fall in love.

Paws up
© Meredith Mullins

This threatened species is an ocean treasure of form and function . . . with a large dose of cute.

As you learn more about these intelligent creatures, the “Oh, I see” moments about their life and challenges will make them favorites for a long time.

A raft of sea otters, resting together
© Meredith Mullins

The Charismatic Sea Otter

What makes the California Sea Otter so special?

• Their koala-like face sprinkled with long cat whiskers provides an intriguing mix of playfulness and inherent wisdom.
• They sport a fur coat to die for (and they did—back in the fur trade days). We are fortunate that they have rallied from being almost extinct to a community of about 3200 on the California Central Coast (with the help of protection laws, of course).
  

  Diving for food
  © Meredith Mullins

• The luxurious coat comes complete with pockets where they stuff their sea treasures. They’ve been seen to dive for food, and, if their paws are also going to be full, they stuff a few more shrimp or sand dollars in their pockets before they surface. Jackpot!
  

  Munching on restaurant-quality shellfish
  © Meredith Mullins

• They are an eclectic blend of paws and flippers—with arms almost comically too short for their long streamlined bodies. But all parts work together so they are experts at diving for food, foraging for invertebrates (using their whiskers and paws), and finding tools to crack open the stubborn shells that house most of their food.
• They are one of the few mammals to use tools and will make you smile with anthropomorphic appreciation as they attack a clam or abalone shell with a rock or whatever is handy (an abandoned sea-floating flip flop?)
  

  Whatever tool is handy
  © Sea Otter Savvy

• They enjoy food with a crunch—restaurant-quality shellfish such as sea urchins, clams, mussels, crabs, snails, and abalone. (Note: The Monterey Bay Aquarium spends $15,000 a year to feed each of their rescued otters.)
  

  When on land, sea otters look like their family cousins—weasels, ferrets, and badgers.
  © Meredith Mullins

• They have no blubber. Although this might seem like a weight watcher’s dream, they have to keep their metabolism high to stay warm—usually by eating about 25% of their body weight every day. (Think about it: If you’re a 180-pound person, you’d have to eat 20 pizzas a day. Too much?)
• They also must groom their fur for 3–6 hours a day (perhaps a little longer on date night). They are trapping air between their outer hairs and underfur to make sure they stay warm. They are proud to have the densest fur on Earth, with up to one million hairs per square inch.
  

  A stomach that doubles as a kitchen counter and dining room table
  © Meredith Mullins

• They have a streamlined body, with a stomach as flat as an aircraft carrier—perfect for preparing a feast and dining in style.
• The sea otter also serves as an ecologic helper. Their favorite food is the sea urchin, which loves to feast on underwater forests. So, as they eat the sea urchins, they help to protect kelp forests for other creatures.

Relaxing in the wild (Elkhorn Slough)
© Meredith Mullins

Protecting this Treasure

With all the sea otters’ positive features, it is important to protect the otter community. They survived being hunted for fur. They now have to survive oil spills and being a target of Great White Sharks’ “test bites” (by the time the shark discovers the otter is just a bag of fur, it’s usually too late for the otter).

Kayakers should keep their distance from otters (five kayak lengths),
to give them space to eat and rest in peace.
© Meredith Mullins

They also have to survive all those folks who are curious about their special life—the parade of  kayakers, paddleboarders, and boaters.

Several groups come to the rescue. The Southern Sea Otter is protected by the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Signs help to educate kayakers about sea otter life.
© Meredith Mullins

Organizations like Sea Otter Savvy and the Monterey Bay Aquarium also provide education to the public to ensure that the otters can eat and rest in peace.

Kayak companies are vigilant about education before kayakers go out.
© Meredith Mullins

Every time a kayaker or boat gets too close to an otter, the otter is disturbed and has to use precious energy to move away.

To remind kayakers and boaters of proper otter etiquette, Sea Otter Savvy works with kayak companies to place decals in every rented kayak or paddleboard. These decals remind visitors to give the otters space and to pass them in parallel. Don’t approach them head on or encircle them.

Decals in every kayak to guide visitors toward proper otter etiquette
© Meredith Mullins

To add to visitors’ education, Sea Otter Savvy also hosted a nationwide limerick contest and has now posted signs near otter habitats with the winners’ poetry.

Don’t paddle too close while we’re searchin’
For a crab or a tasty sea urchin.
Don’t land on our beach,
and stay well out of reach,
Or you’ll frighten us into submergin’.

—Laura Crowley

There once was a sign with a limerick . . .
© Meredith Mullins

When you’re out enjoying the water
Beware the inquisitive otter.
They might take a bite
Though not out of spite
Some just get more close than they ought’er

—Josh Silberg

The harbor traffic can be dangerous.
© Meredith Mullins

Our Responsibilities

Sea Otter Savvy founder and passionate marine biologist Gena Bentall reminds us of our nature watch responsibility. Protection is up to humans—to make sure people around the sea otters are educated and respectful.

It’s too easy to be too curious about these remarkable creatures and get too close to them.

If a sea otter is looking at you, you’re too close, as cute as that interaction may be. Most importantly, remember that you are a guest in an amazing world.

Learning from a distance at the Monterey Bay Aquarium
© Meredith Mullins

For more information about California sea otter protection, visit Sea Otter Savvy and The Monterey Bay Aquarium. Otter feedings are at 10:30 am and 1:30 pm every day at the aquarium. Sea Otter Savvy is funded in large part by the California State Coastal Conservancy, funds which state taxpayers contribute through the California Sea Otter Fund.

If you can’t travel to the California Central Coast, check out the Elkhorn Slough otter cam.

Sea Otter Awareness Week is September 23–29. Spread the word.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.