Fascinating video, but I’m surprised that it did not really address the fundamental question it raised: why did reintroduction of sea otters not succeed in establishing self-sustaining populations in Oregon coastal waters, especially when populations •have• become successfully reëstablished in British Columbia, Washington, and California? Presumably, there was something unsatisfactory about the habitat available off Oregon when the Alaska otters were transplanted in 1970 and ’71, such that the otters either died, or migrated elsewhere. This video seems to suggest that there was enough food, especially sea urchins and shellfish, for otters. So, what do researchers think the problem was, and is there any reason to believe the habitat might now, fifty years later, be more favorable for sustaining otter populations?
im no marine biologist but my first thought was stress, ive also seen someone say that a portion of them may have tried to swim home and just settled in washington after reuniting with the otters there.
Could it have been something to do with orcas off of the Oregon coast, scaring them away, or not having enough safe places to hide from them? Or even the predation of elephant seals, or fur seals? I know the larger seals and Speller’s sea lions will hunt otters occasionally, and even other pinnipeds too. I’m not sure what the feeding habits of Oregon’s coastal orcas are, though, or if they’re resident or transient.
Sorry , the seal population is uncontrolled and bringing another animal in , to take away more fishing rights and less fish for people is just not an option. Eat seals , otters and sea lions and then well talk.
A little encouragement maybe but I live in Southern Oregon and I used to live up the river and there was a family of otters there. I could watch them from our house across the river, come out of their den in the rocks and actively fish the salmon. They worked as a family to fish and taught their young. They’re were about 6 maybe in this family and they did have young each year. We were only about 3 miles up river from the ocean and the tide did come in this far from the ocean. Maybe the oregon otters have just left the ocean front and live up the rivers? It seems strange they are not prevalent in Oregon. Maybe the fishing industry is the culprit with the nets and methods as well. Very sad though. I’ve seen them in central California doing well so I wonder why not Oregon with much more wild coastlines and less population of humans really. Whales are dying in huge amounts this year too up and down the west coast. I’m guessing it has more to do with the (military mostly) testing humans do in the oceans and maybe these creatures are very susceptible and sensitive to the sounds and the pollution caused as really we are all affected in the long run by this nonsense.
im a fisherman , we do have plenty of otters to take big bites from the fish we reel in. Seal population is uncontrolled and has wiped out our fisheries . Fisherman dont need more regs on fishing nor do we need bans on places we can fish . this is just another stupid attempt to wipeout sport fishing in oregon.
@KennethLWagner-yw9ko You'll never win that argument. Very little conservation is based on SOUND science..... It's based on $$$$. I'm on the east coast. We have more ridiculous rules than anyone....
Ask your local fisherman what uncontrolled seals do to our fisheries , the otter will take more from the fisherman who spend all that money and have trouble finding places to fish for fish that have to be released so the animals can eat them.
@@MattCookOregon im a sport fisherman bro , and i work with many different agencies to keep oregon water ways clean . I also am aware how many millioms of dollars spent on gas , lodging, fish gear , bait and etc. I also know that sea lions and seals multiply unchecked . Why dont we just let feral cats multiply unchecked they are cute ! And ive lived in most oregon seaside towns . Too many regs and regulations making it difficult to actually catch fish.
im an oregon fisherman and i can tell you this . There arent enough fish out there for the people that pay this incredable amount of money to go fishing and theres not many fish . Also , the places we can fish gets less and less. Most local people do think seals and such are cute but they catch and eat a lot of fish, take 1 big bite from the fish we are realing in . From this video alone we see that they eat a lot, are expensive to raise . This money should go to providing more open places to fish for all the money we spend. If they do this fisherman may as well hang up our rods. We have otters in all our rivers and we do not need another uncontrolled population out eating all our foof. We need to put people first and stasrt harvesting seals and sea lions and these otters if they are forced on us. This is bullshit and the health of my eco system we be better if there were more keepable fish , instead were raising food for just another uncontrolled species . Vote for eating seals.
Well Kenneth I recommend doing some reading on sea otters. They are not the same species as river otters or seals for that matter. Different universe of marine predators. One of the primary reasons to reintroduce sea otters is due to their positive, rapid effect on kelp. They drop the hammer so hard on urchins and other kelp herbivores that kelp generally flourish everywhere there are otters, which results in a direct increase in fish habitat and in-turn increase fishery harvest and at the very least put a stop to the decline in kelp beds in some areas. Most all rockfish species in Oregon (and lingcod) depend on kelp at some point in their life- history especially the larval stage. Several species of salmon use kelp and it is a primary producer of healthy forage fish populations. This science behind this has been compiled over and over across the Pacific range of the sea otter.
This is inaccurate. I've encountered otters several times on the beach and close to the beach in the open ocean...not a bay. Nearest river miles away. Southern Coast has otters regardless of type.
the North American river otter is in Oregon. River otters may visit the intertidal zones on the beach on occasion but they require freshwater systems. The sea otter is one of two species in the world dependent mainly on subtidal marine habitat. It is a completely difference species with a different life history, and is not in Oregon.
@@johngoodell2775 yeah heck bring on the otter, if the seals dont get our fish than the otter will. Seals are uncontrolled like the otter and well just lose more places to fish, less fish to keep, and on and on. you want a pet , get a dog but quit trying to make it impossable to catch and keep fish .
@@KennethLWagner-yw9ko except that sea otters dont eat fish accept for the rare occasion when they encounter a slow moving small fish species. They eat primarily crabs, clams, urchins, and misc crustaceans. Sea otters literally increase fish populations and fishery catch rates as much as 6 fold wherever they are found by increasing kelp beds that in turn increase fish habitat. THe data on this relationship is conclusive.
Beware of what you wish for ( excuse the preposition at the end of the sentence) Otters have voracious appetites and the reason abalone may be facing extinction.
There are no sea otters in Oregon and northern California yet abalone are struggling. THere has been a recent decline in kelp along those coastlines with the absence of otters and loss of the sunflower sea star. Two key urchin predators. WIthout those predators, urchins decimate kelp. Abalone eat kelp fragments that shed from kelp canopies. Where there is otters there is kelp....where there is kelp there is abalone. Even though otters eat abalone - they also thrive with increasing kelp.
@@johngoodell2775 There was an abundance of abalone from Monterey Bay south through Big Sur. The otters were near extinction. The otters were treated as endangered species and as a result exponentially multiplied. Now there is an excess of otters and the abalone are near extinction. Why? Because Otters are cute and voracious and abalone are not cute and are essentially ocean going snails. and because the abalone is endangered, and in extremely limited supply, they are the target of poachers and sold at obscene prices. Otter meat is foul.
@@jeffhildreth9244 Yes abalone can decrease with sea otters no question, but arguably, the commercial abalone fishery was itself the product of the removal of sea otters and the removal of the Chumash people. Diver harvest of abalone declines in the presence of sea otters, but a part of that is due to the movement of abalone into cracks and crevices and into deeper waters etc. The net productivity and recruitment of abalone can be higher due to the increase in drift kelp fragments. The over-harvest of abalone by people, including the large poaching problem , and low abalone recruitment is a significant part of the story. Healthy populations of abalone and sea urchins are dependent on thriving kelp. Kelp declines in the long-term absence of sea otters. Its a nuanced issue.
No. there may be sightings of river otters - but there are no sea otters in Oregon except rare sightings of the occasional lone vagrant - possibly dispersing otters from Washington looking for other otters
Fascinating video, but I’m surprised that it did not really address the fundamental question it raised: why did reintroduction of sea otters not succeed in establishing self-sustaining populations in Oregon coastal waters, especially when populations •have• become successfully reëstablished in British Columbia, Washington, and California? Presumably, there was something unsatisfactory about the habitat available off Oregon when the Alaska otters were transplanted in 1970 and ’71, such that the otters either died, or migrated elsewhere. This video seems to suggest that there was enough food, especially sea urchins and shellfish, for otters. So, what do researchers think the problem was, and is there any reason to believe the habitat might now, fifty years later, be more favorable for sustaining otter populations?
bro let me know if u find the answer. writing an essay for a final and no one can answer that question for my argument. crying rn
im no marine biologist but my first thought was stress, ive also seen someone say that a portion of them may have tried to swim home and just settled in washington after reuniting with the otters there.
Could it have been something to do with orcas off of the Oregon coast, scaring them away, or not having enough safe places to hide from them? Or even the predation of elephant seals, or fur seals? I know the larger seals and Speller’s sea lions will hunt otters occasionally, and even other pinnipeds too. I’m not sure what the feeding habits of Oregon’s coastal orcas are, though, or if they’re resident or transient.
PLEASE bring them back!! So important for balancing the kelp ecosystem. Great and important video. Thanks, OPB!
Sorry , the seal population is uncontrolled and bringing another animal in , to take away more fishing rights and less fish for people is just not an option. Eat seals , otters and sea lions and then well talk.
A little encouragement maybe but I live in Southern Oregon and I used to live up the river and there was a family of otters there. I could watch them from our house across the river, come out of their den in the rocks and actively fish the salmon. They worked as a family to fish and taught their young. They’re were about 6 maybe in this family and they did have young each year. We were only about 3 miles up river from the ocean and the tide did come in this far from the ocean. Maybe the oregon otters have just left the ocean front and live up the rivers? It seems strange they are not prevalent in Oregon. Maybe the fishing industry is the culprit with the nets and methods as well. Very sad though. I’ve seen them in central California doing well so I wonder why not Oregon with much more wild coastlines and less population of humans really. Whales are dying in huge amounts this year too up and down the west coast. I’m guessing it has more to do with the (military mostly) testing humans do in the oceans and maybe these creatures are very susceptible and sensitive to the sounds and the pollution caused as really we are all affected in the long run by this nonsense.
Those would be river otters not sea otters the ones they talk about in this video.
im a fisherman , we do have plenty of otters to take big bites from the fish we reel in. Seal population is uncontrolled and has wiped out our fisheries . Fisherman dont need more regs on fishing nor do we need bans on places we can fish . this is just another stupid attempt to wipeout sport fishing in oregon.
@@KennethLWagner-yw9ko your sport fishing in there home which often times gets them stuck in a net.. injured or to die. Let these poor otters be.
@KennethLWagner-yw9ko
You'll never win that argument. Very little conservation is based on SOUND science.....
It's based on $$$$.
I'm on the east coast. We have more ridiculous rules than anyone....
I the last 3 years I’ve seen them 4 times walking the beaches in the Brookings area. One time in the same spot.
I have observed sea otters in the Olympic National Park hundreds of times.One thing I noticed is they will give birth any time of the year.
What a great job ! These creatures are just incredible !
no they are not incredable, just like the seals theyll be uncontrolled and fisherman will lose more places to fish and less fish to catch .
Great production. I am not sure who to trust more, the scientists in this video or the Trump commenters lol
Ask your local fisherman what uncontrolled seals do to our fisheries , the otter will take more from the fisherman who spend all that money and have trouble finding places to fish for fish that have to be released so the animals can eat them.
@@KennethLWagner-yw9ko lol you liking your own comments bro
@@MattCookOregon im a sport fisherman bro , and i work with many different agencies to keep oregon water ways clean . I also am aware how many millioms of dollars spent on gas , lodging, fish gear , bait and etc. I also know that sea lions and seals multiply unchecked . Why dont we just let feral cats multiply unchecked they are cute ! And ive lived in most oregon seaside towns . Too many regs and regulations making it difficult to actually catch fish.
Otters in California I've seen them many
There are Otters in Nehalem Bay in Tillamook County. Aren’t those sea otters?
North American river otters
@@johngoodell2775 - oh - Thank you. !
The fishermen along the Columbia say the otters are getting all the fish! Aren't those sea otters?
Those would be the sea lions🎯
River otters
😢
im an oregon fisherman and i can tell you this . There arent enough fish out there for the people that pay this incredable amount of money to go fishing and theres not many fish . Also , the places we can fish gets less and less. Most local people do think seals and such are cute but they catch and eat a lot of fish, take 1 big bite from the fish we are realing in . From this video alone we see that they eat a lot, are expensive to raise . This money should go to providing more open places to fish for all the money we spend. If they do this fisherman may as well hang up our rods. We have otters in all our rivers and we do not need another uncontrolled population out eating all our foof. We need to put people first and stasrt harvesting seals and sea lions and these otters if they are forced on us. This is bullshit and the health of my eco system we be better if there were more keepable fish , instead were raising food for just another uncontrolled species . Vote for eating seals.
Well Kenneth I recommend doing some reading on sea otters. They are not the same species as river otters or seals for that matter. Different universe of marine predators. One of the primary reasons to reintroduce sea otters is due to their positive, rapid effect on kelp. They drop the hammer so hard on urchins and other kelp herbivores that kelp generally flourish everywhere there are otters, which results in a direct increase in fish habitat and in-turn increase fishery harvest and at the very least put a stop to the decline in kelp beds in some areas. Most all rockfish species in Oregon (and lingcod) depend on kelp at some point in their life- history especially the larval stage. Several species of salmon use kelp and it is a primary producer of healthy forage fish populations. This science behind this has been compiled over and over across the Pacific range of the sea otter.
Those are not native shrimp, ridiculous.
There may be no sea otters, but there are otters. I've seen them in bays along the north coast and a couple miles up river as well.
north american river otters
Really nice 👌 😍💋 💝💖❤️
This is inaccurate. I've encountered otters several times on the beach and close to the beach in the open ocean...not a bay. Nearest river miles away. Southern Coast has otters regardless of type.
the North American river otter is in Oregon. River otters may visit the intertidal zones on the beach on occasion but they require freshwater systems. The sea otter is one of two species in the world dependent mainly on subtidal marine habitat. It is a completely difference species with a different life history, and is not in Oregon.
@@johngoodell2775 yeah heck bring on the otter, if the seals dont get our fish than the otter will. Seals are uncontrolled like the otter and well just lose more places to fish, less fish to keep, and on and on. you want a pet , get a dog but quit trying to make it impossable to catch and keep fish .
@@KennethLWagner-yw9ko except that sea otters dont eat fish accept for the rare occasion when they encounter a slow moving small fish species. They eat primarily crabs, clams, urchins, and misc crustaceans. Sea otters literally increase fish populations and fishery catch rates as much as 6 fold wherever they are found by increasing kelp beds that in turn increase fish habitat. THe data on this relationship is conclusive.
Beware of what you wish for ( excuse the preposition at the end of the sentence) Otters have voracious appetites and the reason abalone may be facing extinction.
There are no sea otters in Oregon and northern California yet abalone are struggling. THere has been a recent decline in kelp along those coastlines with the absence of otters and loss of the sunflower sea star. Two key urchin predators. WIthout those predators, urchins decimate kelp. Abalone eat kelp fragments that shed from kelp canopies. Where there is otters there is kelp....where there is kelp there is abalone. Even though otters eat abalone - they also thrive with increasing kelp.
@@johngoodell2775 There was an abundance of abalone from Monterey Bay south through Big Sur. The otters were near extinction. The otters were treated as endangered species and as a result exponentially multiplied. Now there is an excess of otters and the abalone are near extinction. Why? Because Otters are cute and voracious and abalone are not cute and are essentially ocean going snails. and because the abalone is endangered, and in extremely limited supply, they are the target of poachers and sold at obscene prices. Otter meat is foul.
@@jeffhildreth9244 Yes abalone can decrease with sea otters no question, but arguably, the commercial abalone fishery was itself the product of the removal of sea otters and the removal of the Chumash people. Diver harvest of abalone declines in the presence of sea otters, but a part of that is due to the movement of abalone into cracks and crevices and into deeper waters etc. The net productivity and recruitment of abalone can be higher due to the increase in drift kelp fragments. The over-harvest of abalone by people, including the large poaching problem , and low abalone recruitment is a significant part of the story. Healthy populations of abalone and sea urchins are dependent on thriving kelp. Kelp declines in the long-term absence of sea otters. Its a nuanced issue.
we really need to thin out the seals and make more fish and places to fish for fisherman . we spend alot of money
I'm Alone 😍😥
I hope not. They are ornery little buggers with a penchant for goosing unsuspecting Irishmen. Great video.
There are sea otters in Brookings. This is fake news 😂
No. there may be sightings of river otters - but there are no sea otters in Oregon except rare sightings of the occasional lone vagrant - possibly dispersing otters from Washington looking for other otters
@@johngoodell2775 Ergo, there are otters in Oregon.