Otter be a law

California’s sea otters were once hunted to the brink of extinction. We can thank conservation laws like the Endangered Species Act for there being a few thousand of them floating and paddling along the Central Coast today.

But their slow recovery faces a barrage of hazards fueled by climate change. These furry marine mammals are threatened by disease, sharks, harmful algae blooms, kelp forest loss, warming waters and ocean acidification. It’s no wonder their population has dipped below 3,000 in recent years.

So it’s a relief that they caught a break from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which last month rejected a fishing industry petition to kick the southern sea otter off the endangered species list.

It’s right for wildlife officials to be cautious in decisions affecting keystone species like sea otters, salmon and Joshua trees, whose future is clouded by the changing climate. The vitality of the sea otter population tells us a lot about the health of the ocean food web they help sustain, especially because of their role in kelp forests and eelgrass estuaries.

Otters prey on sea urchins that graze on giant kelp, keeping their populations in check and helping the kelp grow and provide more habitat for fish and other aquatic plants and animals. When otters are absent they can leave behind “urchin barrens” that are devoid of other sea life.

Now that wildlife managers have decided to maintain the otters’ endangered species status, they should develop plans to reintroduce them to parts of the northern California and Oregon coast where they once thrived. In a report last year, the Fish and Wildlife Service found that reintroduction is feasible and that releasing sea otters into sheltered areas, such as estuaries and kelp forests, could help protect them from shark bites that are a leading cause of death.

We owe it to this icon of the California coast to do all we can to ensure that it survives and thrives into the next century.