Agency Brands as Failure Effort to Start New Colony of Otters

An effort to establish a spinoff colony of California sea otters at San Nicolas Island 60 miles off the coast of Ventura has failed, the California Fish and Game Commission ruled Friday.

No more sea otters may be captured and moved to the remote island, the commission ruled over the objections of federal wildlife biologists.

The ruling Friday set the stage for a possible dispute with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over what to do next with the otters that remain at San Nicolas, although the initial reaction of federal officials was that they will not challenge the state’s decision.

The effort to move sea otters from the Monterey area to San Nicolas began in 1987 because of concerns that an oil spill near Monterey could wipe out the entire population of California sea otters. Wildlife officials first began to talk about the program in 1979 at a time when the sea otter population was declining.

Of the 137 moved to the island, nine have been found dead of various causes, including one found at Point Mugu in 1987 shot and wrapped in chains; 30 have returned to their homes in Northern California, and 80 are missing and unaccounted for. Only 15 adults and three pups remain.

The state did not rule Friday on whether the remaining otters must be recaptured and returned to the main population in the Monterey area. But Fish and Wildlife Service officials said they intend to keep the otters at San Nicolas Island, where federal biologists will continue monitoring their habits.

The state’s action came on a request by federal biologists to capture and move 18 more animals to the island over the coming year, a proposal that was rejected. The federal officials planned to surgically implant radios in the chest cavities of the fur-bearing mammals to track their movements and study their behavior, federal biologists told the state commission.

Despite the small number of otters remaining at San Nicolas, a Navy-owned island off the coast of Ventura, the San Nicolas otters are becoming a stable, reproducing colony, said biologist Galen Rathbun of the Piedras Blancas office of the wildlife service.

But California Fish and Game Commissioner Albert C. Taucher called the effort “a complete flop.” He also questioned whether the program to set up a colony at San Nicolas was necessary when the main population that ranges over 200 miles along the Northern California coast has increased by 25% since 1987.

That population, once driven nearly to extinction by hunters, has risen from 1,300 to about 1,700, federal biologists agree. But the count this year shows the numbers are down 10% from 1989, Rathbun said.

Nevertheless, at Taucher’s urging, the commission voted to deny the federal permit to continue the 3-year-old program.

“I still love the little otter and I think he is cute as hell, but as long as the population has gained 400, I will move for denial,” Taucher said.