Otters Endanger Abalone Bed Off San Miguel : Wildlife: Fishermen say the strays are eating $5,000 worth of shellfish a day in an area that was to be free of the mammals.

Ten sea otters have been spotted off San Miguel Island feeding on the most productive abalone bed in the Channel Islands, and fishermen are demanding that federal officials remove the animals.

Wildlife experts do not know whether the otters are travelers from a mainland herd off the coast of Northern and Central California or refugees from a transplanted colony at San Nicolas Island, about 60 miles off the Ventura County coast.

Officials have attempted since 1987 to establish a spinoff colony on San Nicolas to preserve the species in the event that an oil spill wiped out the main herd, which numbers about 1,700 animals.

But fishermen charge that the otters’ home base is irrelevant. They say the animals are lounging on kelp beds and gorging themselves on $5,000 worth of rich abalone each day in an area that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have pledged to keep otter-free.

“I’m going to send them a bill,” said Steve Rebuck, president of the California Abalone Assn. “The feds aren’t doing their job.”

But Carl Benz, U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist and coordinator for the Sea Otter Recovery Team, said Friday that plans are under way to attempt to capture the errant animals.

“It’s not something you go out and do without planning if you’re going to risk life and limb,” said Benz, referring to the shark-filled waters in the rough seas around San Miguel. “We also have to be careful of the health and welfare of the sea otters.”

Rebuck acknowledged that the waters around San Miguel are dangerous for divers, whether they are searching for abalone or otters.

“We call it shark park,” he said of San Miguel, the northernmost Channel Island, which sits about 26 miles south of Point Conception.

Rebuck’s charges Friday were the latest flare-up in a yearslong battle over the controversial program between fishing interests and federal wildlife officials. The state’s Fish and Game Commission has been caught in the middle.

In return for Fish and Game’s blessing to move the otters to San Nicolas, federal researchers agreed to keep the rest of the Channel Islands and Southern California free of otters, which are known for their voracious appetites for valuable shellfish. Fishing interests have opposed the program from the beginning.

In 1987, Fish and Wildlife biologists began moving 137 of the fur-bearing mammals from their home along 200 miles of the northern and central California coast to San Nicolas Island. The scientists hoped that with plentiful food and no natural predators, the otters would adopt the Navy-owned island as their new home, breed and establish an entire colony.

But the program has proved a disappointment. Only about 14 adults and one pup are believed to live off San Nicolas now. Nine have been found dead of various causes, including one found in 1987 shot and wrapped in chains. About 30 have returned to the mainland herd and 80 are missing.

Federal officials say a significant decline in population is normal in translocation projects. But Fish and Game Commission members in August called the program a “flop” and refused to renew the state permit.

However, federal officials decided in October to move another 18 animals to the island, as their original permit allowed. Biologists planned to capture the animals and have radios surgically implanted in their chest cavities to provide information on eating habits and to track their wanderings.

The implants have worked successfully with otters in other geographic areas, Benz said. But one animal with an implant died at San Nicolas and another is believed dead. Officials now plan to alter the manner in which the implants are done to reduce the stress to the animals, he said.

Benz said federal researchers will work with Fish and Game officials to capture the 10 animals now grazing at San Miguel Island as soon as the weather allows.

But Bob Hardee, a Fish and Game marine biologist at Morro Bay, said the task will be difficult.

“We have captured animals before, but we have never been up against a group of 10, and the west end of San Miguel Island is a very rough place.”

Rebuck said the California fishing industry is counting on the researchers to live up to their promises.

“San Miguel is the prime area for abalone these days,” he said.