Alaskan sea otters need protecting, group says

A group called Sea Otter Defense Initiative, wants the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect Alaska’s dwindling sea otter population.

The group has petitioned the wildlife service to list the Aleutian Island sea otter as an endangered species. Its petition, filed Jan. 11, calls for the immediate and perminant protection of the southwestern stock of the northern sea otter, centered around the Aleutian Islands.

In August 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated sea otters as a candidate species under the Endangered Species Act, but it hasn’t yet listed the species. The agency has 60 days to respond to the petition.

The Sea Otter population in the Aleutian has plunged sharply, by 70 per cent since 1992 and by 95 per cent since the 1980s.

Predatory action by killer whales is thought to be a main cause of the decline.

Cindy Lowry, director of the Sea Otter Defense Initiative, told the Anchorage Daily News that orcas started relying on otters as prey because of a collapse in the food chain of the larger marine ecosystem.