Outdoor Notes : U.S. Agency Wants to Move Sea Otters to San Nicolas Island

If the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has its way, some California sea otters may soon be doing their back-floating in the kelp around San Nicolas Island, about 40 miles west of Catalina.

The service has released a proposal to capture and move as many as 250 otters over a five-year period to a location within their historic range but outside their current range primarily in Big Sur. The new colony would reduce the likelihood of a catastrophe, such as a major oil spill, reducing the sea otter population beyond its ability to recover.

San Nicolas Island is the preferred site because:

--It offers the least potential conflict with shellfisheries and other economic uses of the ocean.

--It offers strong potential for containing the otters, since it is separated from other islands and the mainland.

--It meets sea otter habitat needs.

--It has strong potential for a research program on sea otter population dynamics.

--Protection of the new colony would be reasonably easy.

No more than 70 otters would be moved in any year and possibly only a few each year after the first. Other possible areas for transplantation are coastal Northern California and coastal southern Oregon.

The California sea otter is extremely vulnerable to oil spills. Oil fouls the fur beyond the otter’s cleaning ability, and the animal becomes chilled and dies of hypothermia.

At one time, a sea otter population of 16,000 to 20,000 lived along the entire California coast, but commercial fur hunters depleted the population to near extinction. Since the sea otter was granted federal and state protection in the early 1900s, the population has grown from about 50 animals in Big Sur to slightly more than 1,500 along a 220-mile stretch from Santa Cruz County to San Luis Obispo County.

Public hearings on the proposal are scheduled Sept. 22 at Monterey and Sept. 24 at Ventura.

Although the success rate has increased in the last two years, deer hunters with Zone D15 tags ought not expect too much when the buck hunt begins there Sept. 6, the Department of Fish and Game warns. Zone D15 is located primarily in the Santa Ana Mountains of the Cleveland National Forest and on private lands in Orange and Riverside counties.

Wildlife biologist Dan Yparraguirre of the DFG said that the most recent survey in the Trabuco Ranger District of the Cleveland forest indicated a buck-to-doe ratio lower than had been hoped for. The count showed 23 bucks per 100 does, under the goal of 50 to 100.

Yparraguirre also said that hunters who choose to hunt the Trabuco can expect temperatures in the 90s and longer walks to find deer, unless the U.S. Forest Service can open roads in the area. They have been closed because of last spring’s rain damage.

Most of the 102 bucks taken last year in D15 were bagged on private lands owned by the Irvine Ranch Company and Rancho Mission Viejo. The buck kill on public land last year totaled 25, up from 16 in 1984. In addition, 99 more were taken by military personnel hunting at the Camp Pendleton Marine base.

When the California law creating a .10% blood alcohol standard for boat operators goes into effect Jan. 1, it will:

--Prohibit the operation of any mechanical vessel or the use of water skis by anyone who has a blood alcohol content of .10% or more.

--Establish a presumption that a person with .10% is under the influence.

--Authorize an arresting officer to request that the person submit to a chemical test of the person’s blood, breath or urine.

--Provide that refusal of such a test be used as evidence in court.

--Increase the maximum penalties for both initial and subsequent convictions.

Briefly The $5,000 Skat Trak jet ski championship competition will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Long Beach Marine Stadium as part of Long Beach Seafest ’86. Qualifying and novice finals are scheduled for Saturday, and pro, expert and women’s finals for Sunday. Racing will begin at 10:30 a.m. each day. . . . The Pasadena Casting Club has been awarded the McKenzie Award by the Federation of Fly Fishers as the country’s best club of the year. . . . The U.S. Bass world championship tournament will be held Sept. 5-6 at Lake Tawakoni near Terrell, Tex.