Sea Otter Savvy Program Coordinator Gena Bentall works with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo students to collect data on human-caused disturbance to sea otters

On August 10, 2017, Sea Otter Savvy celebrates our 2^nd birthday! In August of 2015, we embarked on a mission not only to prevent human-caused disturbance and harassment of sea otters, but foster community awareness about their impact on wildlife and enlist community help in achieving our goals. This collaborative program has truly found its strength in the combined skills, experience, innovation, and savviness of many.

Some of our highlights from the last 2 years:

• We co-organized the Central California Coastal Wildlife Disturbance Symposium held at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories for 2015 and 2016. The 3^rd Annual Symposium is in the works for November 2017.

Collaborators: Seabird Protection Network, California State Parks, NOAA-Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Monterey Bay Aquarium, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Friends of the Sea Otter

• We delivered kayak-adherent “Be Sea Otter Savvy” decals to most kayak rental businesses in Moss Landing, Monterey, and Morro Bay. Over 1500 decals have been distributed and applied to kayaks.

• We worked with California State Parks, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Monterey Bay Aquarium, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and seaotters.com to close an important sea otter haul out beach in Moss Landing Harbor to human traffic. This measure has reduced disturbance to hauled-out sea otters to virtually nil.

• Sea Otter Savvy participated in the effort to install traffic calming measures at two locations where sea otters cross busy roads in Moss Landing. Monterey County Public Works, Local citizen scientist Ron Eby, and Moss Landing residents Jamie and Andrew Jarrad have been, and continue to be, important collaborators on this ongoing project to safeguard sea otter travel corridors.

• We are so proud of our citizen science data collection team, who has recorded more than 800 hours of data on sea otter activity relative to human activities ranging from kayaks and ecotour boats to drones and kids throwing rocks at locations in Moss Landing, Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Morro Bay.  As a result of their hard work and dedication (and the powerhouse statistical modelling coming from the UC Santa Cruz laboratory of Dr. Tim Tinker) we can share that we have recorded a decreasing level of disturbance to sea otters by human activities over the last 2 years. We can’t definitively take credit for this trend but we are happy to see it and hope it continues!

Figure showing average disturbance across all Central California study sites for program quarters: winter of 2015 (2015-1)-winter 2017 (2017-1). Red bars indicate data collected prior to launch of outreach program. The disturbance index is based on Sea Otter Savvy sampling data. Black dotted line indicates linear trend in the disturbance index across quarters.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to keep up with all of our activities, programs and events. Explore this website to learn more about sea otters and how and why we should protect them. Thanks to all our supporters and collaborators who helped make this program not only savvier, but more effective. I am looking forward to our next 2 years! Read more about the team behind Sea Otter Savvy and our collaborators and supporters on our Our Team page.

                         — Gena Bentall, Sea Otter Savvy Program Coordinator                         

By guest writer Scott Kathey, Federal Regulatory Coordinator, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

The southern sea otter is protected under federal laws as both a marine mammal and a threatened species. Sea otters don’t have a blubber layer like seals and must consume up to one quarter of their body weight a day to stay warm in the frigid waters of central California. When they’re not feeding to maintain their high metabolism, they are sleeping to recharge from all the hard work of foraging. These critical life patterns are easily disrupted by human presence. In popular recreation areas, such disturbances can occur repeatedly throughout the day.

Just as repeated interruption of a person’s sleep and meals day-after-day can lead to increased stress and sickness in humans, it has the same effect on sea otters. But unlike humans, sea otters live on a narrow margin of survival in harsh ocean conditions. Your interruption of sea otters’ routines—compounded by disturbance from other sources—can lead to severe fatigue, malnourishment, physiological stress, a weakened immune system, disease, and finally death. But anxious spectators will never see their part in this tragic sequence of events. They will simply be satisfied that they captured the close-up photos they wanted for their scrapbook or social media page. The otter they leave behind will have to contend with hundreds more such encounters a month—trying to survive heavy seas, sharks, shifting food resources, pollutants, and disease while being repeatedly pursued by boaters, kayakers, paddle boarders, beachgoers, and now, aerial drones.

For these reasons, the U.S. Government has protected sea otters under several federal laws. That protection includes a prohibition against disturbing sea otters by causing them to change their normal behavior in any way. The simple act of causing a resting otter to turn its face toward you is considered “harassment” under the law.

Many people do things purposely to attract an otter’s attention. They equate an otter’s gaze with that of their pet at home, mistakenly thinking that the otter somehow likes their attention. It does not. It’s actually on high alert, planning its next move should the spectator approach closer. When an otter raises its head up to get a better view, it is not curious or eager to meet the onlooker - it is carefully evaluating what it perceives as “a potential threat”. Its heart rate quickens and its body produces adrenaline that drains valuable energy it needs to survive. If the threat moves away, it takes an otter about 15 minutes to resume what it was doing before the disturbance—just enough time for the next person to come along. If the threat moves closer, then the effects of the disturbance intensify even more.

Sea otter observers should closely watch otter reactions as they approach otters from a distance. Observers should begin focusing on an otter’s behavior when 50 yards away. Observers should NEVER surround an otter or approach an otter by paddling or walking directly toward the animal. Instead, they should choose a diagonal path to the side of the animal. If at any time an otter turns its face toward observers, they should immediately stop, approach no closer, and may need to move further away. Even if otters don’t react to observer presence, observers should NEVER approach otters closer than 50 feet.
Remember: “Be on guard at 50 yards, and do not sneak past 50 feet.”

If you witness sea otter disturbance in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary that you think should be reported, you can help by collecting as much detailed information about the incident and people causing the disturbance as possible. If you can quietly capture video or photos of the disturbance without alerting the person(s) causing the disturbance, such records can be very helpful to subsequent enforcement efforts. You can report marine mammal disturbance incidents to the NOAA Enforcement Hotline anytime at 1-800-853-1964. But it’s best to report problems as soon as possible. The sanctuary’s website offers helpful reporting contacts and reporting tips.

Scott Kathey at work in the Monterey Bay National Marine SanctuaryFederal penalties for harassing sea otters can range from hundreds of dollars in fines to criminal prosecution, depending on the circumstances. But random enforcement actions can’t repair the avoidable and unnecessary damage caused by many people. It’s critical that the public help protect these magnificent wild animals by voluntarily watching them from a respectful distance and allowing them room to survive and thrive.

From left to right: Laird Henkel (CDFW), Stephen Bachman (CA State Parks), Lilian Carswell (USFWS), Gena Bentall (Sea Otter Savvy), Colleen Young (CDFW), Michelle Staedler, and Andy Johnson (Monterey Bay Aquarium)

One fence + twelve signs + seven agencies + sea otter bachelors = the best sea otter haul out beach in California!

The picturesque town of Moss Landing, California lies at the mid-way point between the cities of Monterey and Santa Cruz on Monterey Bay. It has long been known as one of the best places in California to view sea otters in the wild, and has several locations where those wishing to watch or photograph sea otters may do so from a safe distance for both sea otters and humans. Making this location even more special, is the opportunity to observe sea otter behavior that is not often witnessed: coming ashore to rest. While researchers have documented healthy sea otters coming ashore---a behavior known as hauling out--- in California, Alaska, Canada, and Russia, in populous California they often do so at hidden locations or at nighttime when they feel safe from disturbance by humans. At moderate tides when Jetty Beach, on the west side of Moss Landing’s north harbor, is exposed just enough to allow space for napping, observant viewers may spot some of the male sea otters from the nearby bachelor raft coming out onto the sand to groom their fur and rest.

Why would these marine mustelids, adapted in so many ways to an aquatic existence, come out onto land where their movements are often awkward and slow? Researchers studying this behavior have found that, once on land, sea otters’ body temperature warms more rapidly and stays warmer longer than when they rest in the water.  This means more time resting and less energy devoted to keeping their internal temperature stable in a cold-water environment. Access to safe haul-outs is especially important to sea otters that are food-stressed and struggling to meet their basic caloric requirements. Additionally, sea otters that are sick or injured may also haul out. A safe haul-out location for these compromised animals may mean the difference between life and death.

Beach goers approach hauled out sea otters at Jetty Beach. photo Brenda DutkiewiczThis opportunity to view this interesting behavior has a darker side. Sheltered inside the north jetty, Jetty Beach is a popular location for families, beachcombers, and kayakers to enjoy a beach experience that is relatively protected from the open ocean. Perhaps not understanding the harm, people are drawn to sea otters on the beach, their curious approach usually disturbing resting otters and scaring them into the water. On busy days, it is possible for every sea otter that attempts to haul out to be harassed by people.

What is the harm? Sea otters that are disturbed and forced into the water waste vital energy, and lose the energy-conserving opportunity hauling out provides. Repeated disturbance of this kind can become very energetically costly. Chronic harassment may also result in habituated sea otters that have lost some or all of their natural fear of people. These bold sea otters can become aggressive and are capable of biting and inflicting serious injury. Direct contact can also come with the risk of transmission of disease (both to and from the sea otter) to people and their pets. By repeated encroachment for our own pleasure, we are depriving sea otters of the space all wild animals need to live healthy, less stressful lives.

In spring of last year, the idea to set aside this important habitat for sea otters was first proposed. Reports of disturbance and harassment of hauled-out sea otters at Jetty Beach were increasingly frequent and the Sea Otter Cam of the “otter-centric” website, seaotters.com was recording incident after incident of hauled-out sea otters being harassed by people.

While the idea to close this beach to provide a safe haul-out for the sea otters seemed simple, the complexity of ownership of this small bit of land, required cooperation and agreement from a number of agencies and organizations. This process, while at times frustratingly slow, resulted in a Multi-agency work group on installation day. photo L Henkelsolution that was well worth the patience and effort: Jetty Beach now belongs to the sea otters, birds and other marine wildlife of Moss Landing Harbor. On Friday, June 30, 2017, many of those who had been working to make this happen, came out to take on the final task---installation of the fence closing the beach---together. 

It is our hope that the beach closure will make Jetty Beach even more appealing to sea otters seeking warm up opportunities on a sheltered sandy shore. The sea otters of Moss Landing, whether in the water or on shore, may be readily observed from the parking lot near the end of Jetty Road. Just steps from your vehicle (and at a sea otter savvy distance) you may see and photograph sea otters just going about their "sea ottery" business. Come back again next year---I’d be willing to bet you’ll find even more sea otters on Jetty Beach taking advantage of a safe protected place to get the rest they need.

Sea otters rest ashore and in the water at Jetty Beach

Thanks to those that collaborated to make this happen:

California State Parks

Monterey Bay Aquarium (special thanks to the Sea Otter Program’s Andy Johnson for taking the lead on organizing this project)

US Fish and Wildlife Service

California Department of Fish and Wildlife

US Army Corps of Engineers

Seaotters.com

Sea Otter Savvy

Alternative family friendly beaches in the Monterey Bay area:

• San Carlos Beach, Monterey
• Lover’s Point, Pacific Grove
• Monterey Municipal Beach, Monterey
• Natural Bridges State Beach, Santa Cruz
• Cowell Beach, Santa Cruz