The Southern Southeast Alaska Sea Otter Project
Examining the impact of sea otter recolonization on commercial and subsistence fisheries in southern Southeast Alaska
The Southern Southeast Alaska Sea Otter Project seeks to conduct research and provide information to subsistence and commercial fishermen, wildlife and fisheries managers, and the general public on the predicted impacts of sea otter population growth in southern Southeast Alaska on important shellfish and invertebrate species.
As the number and range of sea otters in southeastern Alaska has grown, so has the level of concern among commercial and subsistence fishermen who harvest species such as geoduck clams, California sea cucumbers, red sea urchins, and Dungeness crab. Areas previously open to commercial harvest have either been closed by state managers or have been determined by fishermen to no longer hold enough resources to warrant any fishing effort. Subsistence users report declining crab and shellfish harvests in areas recently recolonized by sea otters, as well.
Otter eating a sea cucumber. Photo by Randall Davis, Alice Cove Research,
obtained during research under Letter of Confirmation No. MA-043219 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
This project brings together students and faculty from the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and staff from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to complete two research projects examining the population, distribution, movement, and diet of sea otters in the region.
In a project funded by Alaska Sea Grant (Ecological, Economic, and Social Changes as a Result of Sea Otter Recolonization in Southern Southeast Alaska), researchers will first conduct population abundance estimates of sea otters on the outside coast of southern Southeast Alaska using aerial surveys (summer 2010). The following summer, personnel will set up shore-based sampling stations on Prince of Wales, Kuiu, and Kupreanof Islands to record foraging statistics including prey size and type, dive time, and surface intervals. This data will be analyzed in conjunction with sea otter population survey data, information gathered from the public, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) fisheries data sets to provide an estimate of commercially important species being consumed by sea otters.
A parallel project funded by the North Pacific Research Board (Sea otter recolonization and interactions with commercially important macroinvertebrates in southeast Alaska) will examine the movement, habitat use, and prey selection of sea otters in an area that otters have recently colonized near Kake, Alaska, on Kupreanof Island. Researchers will implant forty otters with VHF radio tags and will track their movements, habits and diets for 2 years. The information obtained about the diets of otters as they move into new territories will be combined with the information from the Sea Grant–funded project to refine our predictions about the impacts of otters. Learn more about the capture and tagging process.
Throughout the duration of both projects, personnel will conduct outreach meetings to both gather and share information with fishermen and other shellfish users. Meetings will take place on Prince of Wales Island and in Ketchikan, Petersburg, and Kake, as well as with other interested parties through videoconferencing.
Finding meaningful solutions to the problem sea otter growth presents to commercial, sport, and subsistence users is impossible without a good understanding of the extent and nature of sea otter use of these species. The goal of the Southern Southeast Alaska Sea Otter Project is to provide that understanding by gathering robust data and sharing that information with all interested parties.
Project partners (left to right) Sunny Rice, Zac Hoyt, Ginny Eckert, and Verena Gill in Craig, July 2010.
