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California Sea Otter Stranding Network

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By Western Ecological Research Center (WERC) October 30, 2017

The California Sea Otter Stranding Network is part of the USGS effort to monitor southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) and provide data to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. WERC's sea otter team works with multiple institutions and partners to report, recover, and examine stranded sea otters. In addition, instructions on how to report a stranded sea otter are included in this webpage. 

Image: Stranded Sea Otters Offer Valuable Data
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
The State of California studies dead, sick, or injured sea otters, like this one found by USGS scientists in Piedras Blancas, Calif., to learn about their causes of death and to understand the variety of environment stress factors that impact the nearshore marine environment. (Credit: Brian Hatfield, USGS. Public domain.)

TRENDS IN SEA OTTER MORTALITY

Since 1968, biologists and veterinarians at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the USGS Western Ecological Research Center have documented and examined all reported sea otter strandings -- counting the number of dead, sick or injured sea otters recovered along California each year -- in an effort to understand the population trends of the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis), a federally listed threatened species.

This effort was begun by CDFW, but soon became a multi-agency and multi-organization endeavor. The coordination of the sea otter stranding network was transferred to USGS scientists in 1995. 

In addition to the CDFW Office of Spill Prevention and Response and USGS, other institutions including the Monterey Bay Aquarium, US Fish and Wildlife Service, California Academy of Sciences, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, The Marine Mammal Center, various city beach clean-up crews and others contribute by reporting and/or retrieving carcasses. Live sea otters that strand ashore in California are reported to and retrieved by the Monterey Bay Aquarium or The Marine Mammal Center, and are included in the stranding data set.
 
Efforts are made to recover and examine each reported sea otter carcass, and a subset of fresh carcasses are sent to the CDFW Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center, where veterinarians conduct necropsies to determine the primary causes of death and identify factors that may have contributed to the death of each animal. Final determinations on cause of death are made after laboratory results are received, and the final records are provided by the CDFW Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center.

NOTE: Stranding numbers only account for sea otters that people find, including any dead animal, or stranded live animal that would have died without intervention. Past research indicates that possibly fewer than 50% of sea otters that die in the wild wash ashore, so the data presented here at best provide only an index of trends in population mortality.

 

HOW TO REPORT A STRANDED SEA OTTER

Live sea otters in distress

  • Santa Cruz Co. and north: The Marine Mammal Center (415) 289-7325
  • Monterey Bay area: Monterey Bay Aquarium Security Office (831) 648-4840
  • San Luis Obispo Co and south: The Marine Mammal Center (415) 289-7325
  •  

Dead sea otters

  • Santa Cruz Co. and north: CDFW Stranded Sea Otter Hotline (831) 687-8776 (can receive text messages)
  • Monterey Co.: Monterey Bay Aquarium Security Office (831) 648-4840
  • San Luis Obispo Co. and south: CDFW, Mike Harris (831) 212-7090 (can receive text messages) Michael.D.Harris@wildlife.ca.gov 

 

The California Sea Otter Stranding Network is part of the USGS effort to monitor southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) and provide data to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. WERC's sea otter team works with multiple institutions and partners to report, recover, and examine stranded sea otters. In addition, instructions on how to report a stranded sea otter are included in this webpage. 

Image: Stranded Sea Otters Offer Valuable Data
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
The State of California studies dead, sick, or injured sea otters, like this one found by USGS scientists in Piedras Blancas, Calif., to learn about their causes of death and to understand the variety of environment stress factors that impact the nearshore marine environment. (Credit: Brian Hatfield, USGS. Public domain.)

TRENDS IN SEA OTTER MORTALITY

Since 1968, biologists and veterinarians at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the USGS Western Ecological Research Center have documented and examined all reported sea otter strandings -- counting the number of dead, sick or injured sea otters recovered along California each year -- in an effort to understand the population trends of the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis), a federally listed threatened species.

This effort was begun by CDFW, but soon became a multi-agency and multi-organization endeavor. The coordination of the sea otter stranding network was transferred to USGS scientists in 1995. 

In addition to the CDFW Office of Spill Prevention and Response and USGS, other institutions including the Monterey Bay Aquarium, US Fish and Wildlife Service, California Academy of Sciences, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, The Marine Mammal Center, various city beach clean-up crews and others contribute by reporting and/or retrieving carcasses. Live sea otters that strand ashore in California are reported to and retrieved by the Monterey Bay Aquarium or The Marine Mammal Center, and are included in the stranding data set.
 
Efforts are made to recover and examine each reported sea otter carcass, and a subset of fresh carcasses are sent to the CDFW Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center, where veterinarians conduct necropsies to determine the primary causes of death and identify factors that may have contributed to the death of each animal. Final determinations on cause of death are made after laboratory results are received, and the final records are provided by the CDFW Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center.

NOTE: Stranding numbers only account for sea otters that people find, including any dead animal, or stranded live animal that would have died without intervention. Past research indicates that possibly fewer than 50% of sea otters that die in the wild wash ashore, so the data presented here at best provide only an index of trends in population mortality.

 

HOW TO REPORT A STRANDED SEA OTTER

Live sea otters in distress

  • Santa Cruz Co. and north: The Marine Mammal Center (415) 289-7325
  • Monterey Bay area: Monterey Bay Aquarium Security Office (831) 648-4840
  • San Luis Obispo Co and south: The Marine Mammal Center (415) 289-7325
  •  

Dead sea otters

  • Santa Cruz Co. and north: CDFW Stranded Sea Otter Hotline (831) 687-8776 (can receive text messages)
  • Monterey Co.: Monterey Bay Aquarium Security Office (831) 648-4840
  • San Luis Obispo Co. and south: CDFW, Mike Harris (831) 212-7090 (can receive text messages) Michael.D.Harris@wildlife.ca.gov 

 

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