Guided group from Monterey Bay Kayaks models respectful sea otter viewing in Moss Landing

By Gena Bentall and Hannah Walker

Thirty-one years ago Jeff and Cass Schrock had a vision to share their passion for the marine life of Monterey Bay with the world. Back when Del Monte Beach was lined with decrepit automotive and railroad buildings, Jeff and Cass started taking kayaking lessons to immerse themselves in the bay’s scenic views.

 In the mid-80s when natural history tours of coastal Monterey Bay were uncommon and kayaking as a form of marine recreation was in its infancy, the Schrocks purchased their first fleet and Monterey Bay Kayaks was born.

Monterey Bay Kayaks Manager, Sean Furey, stands with kayaks featuring Sea Otter Savvy decals

Pioneers of their time, Jeff and Cass worked alongside fellow eco-tourism pioneers, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, to foster a renewed awareness of the unique natural treasures of Monterey Bay and welcomed an influx of visitors ready to explore. 

 Cass describes how their focus was of helping people discover the bay’s unique wildlife from the very beginning, “Jeff was a ‘home-grown’ naturalist. When we first started kayaking, he already knew about all the wildlife. He’d pick up kelp blade and show me little snail eggs – perfect concentric circles – and he would know what kind of snails they were. We knew that people would get hooked the same way we did.”

 As Monterey Bay Kayaks continues to grow, so does the marine recreation industry. With an ever-increasing demand to get on the water, Monterey Bay Kayaks are at the forefront of efforts to educate customers and protect the waters they tour.

 For their guided natural history tours, staff pair customers with well-trained guides who explain and model responsible behavior. The greatest challenges facing Monterey Bay Kayaks are international visitors and kayakers who opt to embark without a guide. Cass, who has continued to run the shops after Jeff’s passing in 2004, is continuously evolving their approach toward instilling these independent paddlers with a responsible ethic towards wildlife as they paddle unsupervised from the shop. In a multi-layered approach, paddlers will receive an initial orientation illustrated by innovative graphic signage, and be given a final reminder about wildlife etiquette by staff on the beach as they launch.

 When asked what strategy she feels would be most helpful in reaching the independent paddler, Cass said “they have to have a certain attitude before they even come to us. That’s something that’s totally out of our control. Our biggest success is when somebody already has the attitude: the ocean’s a dangerous place, I have to be respectful, marine mammals are protected and we shouldn’t disturb them.”

In 2016, Monterey Bay Kayaks was the first to test and apply Sea Otter Savvy’s waterproof decals to their entire fleet, to provide a final reminder to respect sea otters while paddling. The success of this interface with customers is dependent on the high caliber of Monterey Bay Kayaks’ staff, all of whom are carefully selected, trained and provided with continued education by Cass and biologists at their "sea otter sessions".  

Of all her accomplishments, Cass is most proud of her staff, “they are going to be our ambassadors. No matter what we tell customers, or what I put on the website or the sign, it’s people’s interaction with the staff, the guides, the person on the beach, that people are really going to remember.”

 Hopefully Sea Otter Savvy can make a difference in the awareness people already have about sea otters when they arrive at the doors of Monterey Bay Kayaks, but we are confident that Cass and the dedicated staff of Monterey Bay Kayaks will take it from there.

Staff members at the Monterey shop with some of Monterey Bay Kayaks' unique educational signage

From "Sharing Space with Sea Otters": Don't encircle sea otters!   Photo by Dave Feliz

The Sea Otter Savvy program bases its outreach campaign on a fundamental premise: most day to day disturbance to sea otters is caused by well-intentioned people who love sea otters, have no intention of causing them harm, and don’t recognize that they’ve caused a potentially detrimental disruption of sea otter behavior.  We want to teach everyone who might embark on an ocean adventure in the sea otter’s neighborhood how disturbance happens, and what they can do to prevent it. We want every boater, kayaker, scuba diver, and beach-comber to know how they can (and why they should) share space with sea otters. Telling people how to be sea otter savvy is good, but showing them is better!

To bring the Sea Otter Savvy message to life, we have teamed up with nonprofit conservation production company, Wild Lens, Inc. and Monterey Bay Kayaks to produce “Sharing Space with Sea Otters”, a short film promoting awareness of the effect of our marine recreation activities on sea otters and the simple measures we can take to prevent causing disturbance. Through this film we hope to illustrate three important principles of our program: 1) sea otters are vulnerable to disturbance, 2) sea otters are important members of the coastal community that deserve our good stewardship, and 3) our behavior has the power to either cause disturbance or prevent it.  

This short film, featuring footage shot throughout the central California coast, will premiere on September 19 in recognition of Sea Otter Awareness Week 2016.  “Sharing Space with Sea Otters” will be available to screen at marine recreation businesses, including kayak and stand-up paddleboard rentals, wildlife watching tours, or any venue that might reach ocean recreation enthusiasts and sea otter admirers.

“Sharing Space with Sea Otters” is coming soon to Wild Lens, Inc. and SeaOtterSavvy.org. Watch. Learn. Share. Be a sea otter savvy role model for others!

Last week Sea Otter Savvy shared a video of a male sea otter, a well-known resident of the south harbor in Moss Landing. He was crossing the road that separated a section of adjacent wetlands (where he had found a good foraging spot) from his resting spot in the harbor. In recent weeks he had developed a routine of swimming through the culvert that passes under the road to find food on the other side. When finding the tidal gates of the culverts closed upon his return, he would walk up the bank, across the road, and dip back into the south harbor to rest.

Those of us whose work concerns sea otters and their welfare recognized this as an inherently dangerous behavior and began discussing ways to prevent this sea otter from becoming a casualty on the high traffic road. A concerned community member erected a “Sea Otter Crossing” sign to warn drivers.