-
The magnificent coastal waters
of British Columbia are home
-
to an abundance
of incredible marine wildlife
-
including humpback whales,
steller sea lions,
-
orcas, porpoises, and harbour seals.
-
The BC coast is also home
to one of the most iconic, recognizable
-
and lovable aquatic mammals:
-
the sea otter.
-
With its long whiskers and
-
grizzled facial fur,
-
these endearing animals have
fittingly earned the nickname:
-
the “old man of the sea”.
-
But despite their cute appearance
-
and engaging antics,
-
sea otters have actually endured
-
a long dark history in North America,
-
once pushed to the very brink
of extinction.
-
My name is John E. Marriott,
-
and this episode, we’re EXPOSING you
-
to one of Canada’s great environmental
success stories:
-
the miraculous recovery
of the once-extirpated sea otter
-
on the BC coast.
-
(Music)
-
Sea otters are unique
-
in that they're the smallest member
-
of the marine mammal family,
-
yet also the largest member
of the weasel family.
-
Found around sheltered islands,
reefs, fjords, and bays,
-
sea otters feed on a variety of seafood,
-
including clams, mussels,
crabs and sea urchins.
-
It’s not uncommon for sea otters
-
to float around in the water on their back
-
with their food on their belly
-
like a picnic spread on a table,
-
and remarkably,
-
they’re one of the only animals
in the world
-
to use tools like we do.
-
Using rocks and other objects to crack,
-
open their hard-shelled food
-
to get at the yummy stuff inside.
-
Sea otters require a ton of food
-
to stay warm in the cold,
coastal pacific waters
-
and eat up to 30%
-
of their body weight every single day.
-
Unlike other marine mammals,
-
they don’t actually have a lot of body fat
-
to insulate themselves,
-
which is why they have one
of the thickest fur coats
-
in the animal kingdom,
-
made up of two types of hair:
-
long, sparse guard hairs
-
and feathery-soft,
super dense warm underfur.
-
Unfortunately, it's these beautiful,
luxurious coats
-
that are the very reason sea otters
once vanished
-
from British Columbia
and Canada altogether.
-
Before the fur trade began
in the early 1800s,
-
the world’s sea otter population
was estimated
-
at between 150,000 and 300,000 animals.
-
But by the early 1900s,
just a century later,
-
the population had been totally decimated
-
by our insatiable appetite for their fur
-
and less than 2,000 animals remained.
-
Eventually, the sea otter
-
disappeared from the BC Coast completely
-
The last otter shot
-
and killed off Vancouver Island in 1929.
-
The long road to recovery
for our sea otters
-
began with the combined efforts
-
of federal, state
and provincial governments
-
in both Canada and the United States.
-
Between 1969 and 1972,
-
89 sea otters from Alaska
-
were released in Checleset Bay
-
off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
-
Amazingly, this reintroduced population
-
prospered almost immediately
in the superb coastal habitat
-
and by 1996,
-
had doubled more than 4x
to over 1500 otters.
-
The stunning initial success
of the reintroduction
-
led the federal government to downgrade
-
the sea otters’ status as a species at risk
-
from ‘endangered’ to ‘threatened’.
-
By 2004, the population had
expanded even more dramatically,
-
with sea otters found as far south as
Vargas Island in Clayoquot Sound,
-
as far north as the northern tip
of Vancouver Island
-
at Cape Scott., and as far east as
-
Hope Island in Queen Charlotte Strait.
-
Today, sea otters have expanded
-
even further afield in British Columbia
-
and their status has been downgraded
-
from a ‘threatened’ species
to one of ‘special concern’.
-
Their continued recovery and expansion
-
on the West Canadian coast
-
is now considered
one of the most successful
-
mammal reintroductions
in Canadian history!
-
But this astonishing success story
doesn’t end there:
-
sea otters are known
as a ‘keystone species’
-
meaning that even a small number of them
-
can have a dramatic effect
on shaping healthy ecosystems.
-
If we look back at when sea otters
were eradicated,
-
rocks and reefs quickly became overrun
-
with dense populations of sea urchins
-
and these sea urchins in turn wiped out
the kelp forests
-
that are so critical to our ocean’s health,
-
essentially removing
the ‘rainforests of the sea’
-
so called because of
the kelp forests’ ability
-
to provide food, shelter, oxygen
and a nursery environment
-
for a wide variety of sea life.
-
So with sea otters reintroduced
-
and reoccupying their former habitat
-
and resuming their crucial role
in the ecology of BC’s coastal ecosystems,
-
the environmental spin-off
has been remarkable:
-
the out-of-control sea urchin populations
-
have been brought back under contrtol,
-
and the kelp forests have returned
and flourished,
-
completely reshaping our coast
-
in a wonderful way.
-
Despite the success
of their reintroduction,
-
sea otters continue to face
a number of threats.
-
The most serious is
from environmental contaminants
-
like oil spills.
-
Oil spills are catastrophic for sea otters
-
their fur loses its buoyancy
and insulating capabilities
-
and the otters end up dying from exposure.
-
Those otters that do survive initially,
-
end up inhaling and ingesting oil
-
when they groom their oil-slicked fur
-
causing even more deaths.
-
Not surprisingly,
the sea otter populations
-
took almost three decades to recover
-
from the Exxon-Valdez
spill off the coast of Alaska.
-
For these reasons
-
it's critical that we continue to protect
sea otter habitat
-
and continue to monitor and reduce
-
the risk of oil spills along the BC coast.
-
Thanks for watching everyone,
-
we really appreciate the support!
-
Please let us know what you thought about
-
the episode in the comments below,
-
and don’t forget to subscribe
-
and click that little notification bell
-
so you don't miss our next episode
-
Thanks everyone, see you soon!