The State - News from July 9, 1985

Adults were down and pups were up in the latest joint spring survey of California sea otters. The state Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that no trends were evident in the results of the survey, conducted from April 22 to May 7. But the pup count at 236 was the highest of the last four annual surveys, as was the proportion of pups in the population--21%. Biologists made the counts along the 220-mile established coastal range of the California population from Point Ano Nuevo in Santa Cruz County to the Santa Maria River in San Luis Obispo County, plus additional peripheral habitats. In 1984, the pup counts and percentages of total were 123 and 10.4%. As for the adults, this year’s count of 1,124 compared to 1,181 in 1984. The sea otter is fully protected under the California Fish and Game Code, and is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.