From the time of discovery of Alaska by Vitus Bering in 1741 until an international treaty in 1911, sea otters were hunted throughout their range to the brink of extinction by Russians and Americans. After the treaty, the few remaining isolated populations, including several in the remote Aleutian Islands, began to grow and re-colonize their former range. They had recovered to the point where, in the 1980s, biologists believed that half the worlds population of sea otters could be found in the Aleutians.
Sea otters in the Aleutians eat sea urchins, crab, octopus, and some bottom-dwelling fishes. Because they depend on these bottom-dwelling prey, sea otters spend most of their time in shallow water, close to the shore. The decline in sea otters has resulted in an increase in the species they prey upon, most notably sea urchins. Sea urchins graze on the attachments of bull kelp, which then detaches the kelp from the sea floor. As a result, kelp forests in the Aleutians may also be in decline.
Candidate species are those for which the Service has sufficient information on biological status and threats to propose them as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Candidate species receive no statutory protection under the ESA, but identification of candidate species allows the Service to monitor the population and conduct additional research.
In order to list a species as threatened or endangered under the ESA, the Service must follow a strict legal process known as a "rulemaking" (regulatory) procedure. The rule is first proposed in the Federal Register, a U.S. government publication. After a public comment period, the Service decides if the rule should be approved, revised, or withdrawn. The process takes up to a year, sometimes longer in unusual circumstances, and it encourages the participation of all interested parties, including the general public, the scientific community, other government agencies, and foreign governments.
A backgrounder web page for the media is available by going to: http://www.r7.fws.gov/ and clicking on "Sea Otters" under Issues of Importance.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
You can subscribe to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska region listserver, to have our press releases sent to your e-mail address automatically by sending an e-mail message to: listserver@www.fws.gov">. Please indicate that you would like to subscribe to FWS-Alaska news and give your name in the body of the message.
