Sea Otters were once abundant from Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula all the
way to Baja California, Mexico. High demand for their fur coats led to
intense hunting that reduced their numbers to near-extinction levels
The
otter population is now coming back, thanks to the Endangered Species
Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which provided refuge for the
few remaining individual otters. But their return brings the potential
for drastic change and conflict to the modern-day economics and ecology
of Southern California.
For more than a decade, sea otters were
exiled from their historic home range in Southern California, out of
fear by fishermen that their return would deplete the profitable
shellfish industry. The entire southern coast of California – from Pt.
Conception, north of Santa Barbara, to the Mexico border – was
established as a
No Otter Zone.
The film presents the
history and conflict over the otters, and illustrates the critical
choice that must be made: whether to continue to protect some fisheries
with a no otter zone, or allow this historic predator to repopulate
throughout its natural range. The battle continues today in court.
FEATURED IN THE FILM:-
Lilian Carswell, Southern Sea Otter Recovery Coordinator, US Fish & Wildlife Service
-
Steve Rebuck, Commercial Abalone Divers of California
-
Steve Shimek, Founder, The Otter Project
-
Rick Rosenthal, Marine Biologist
-
Michael Harrington, Executive Committee, California Abalone Association
