Nichol said the otters are simply playing out their evolutionary role, but it "creates conflict with people who want shellfish." On land, visitors may also notice beach-cast kelp, another potential sea otter effect. On the wild west coast of Vancouver Island lies Nuchatlitz Provincial Marine Park – a spectacular group of small islets, soft sand beaches, open ocean views, and amazing wildlife. The return of sea otters seems to benefit a range of animals, small and big. Kelp forests provide cover and food for many invertebrates and fish, help reduce coastal erosion and capture carbon. Coastal wolves that patrol the Mission Group of islands are able to include sea otters on the menu of their marine diet, while harlequin ducks follow sea otters in the wintertime, also hoping for a good meal. The restricted range is a result of the single introduction back onto Vancouver Island. When sea otters return, their insatiable appetite creates a conflict with the people who have an economic and cultural interest in shellfish. “With sea otters on our doorstep, it is an opportunity to discuss them in the context of how a place has been changing through time and what the relationships are with humans.”. From the moment she was discovered in 2004, orphaned and alone in the water by a boater near Sitka, Alaska, Tanu captured the hearts of everyone who met her. Vancouver Aquarium Rescues 'Orphaned' Otter Pup, Found 'Hypothermic and Hypoglycemic' The little pup, named Joey, was found near Kyuquot and flown to Vancouver for care The otters’ voracious appetite has profound implications for the local ecosystems. Found on the rugged northwest coast of Vancouver Island, Nootka Sound is a remarkable coastal region unparalleled in it’s seascapes and wildlife. Plus, you can also see sea otters at the Oregon Zoo and Vancouver Aquarium! According to Aquarium staff, the enrichment sessions provide mental and physical stimulation for the animals and gives them a chance to strengthen their bonds with their trainers. And at the Vancouver Aquarium, you can also go behind the scenes to see and learn more about sea otters! . “It seems there is much more beach-cast kelp in areas with sea otters,” says. In this case, the estimated gain in potential revenue for tourism operators in the region would be approximately $9.5million per year. Dedicated staff had to bottle-feed and groom them until they learned how to do it themselves. In Alaska, some places are not as accessible for viewing sea otters as in California, but for all three stocks in Alaska, there are places to view sea otters. On the other hand, the disturbance they create may contribute to releasing carbon buried in the sediment into the atmosphere. Sea otter researcher Erin Foster and naturalist Jackie Hildering count otters for a coastal survey around the northern tip of Vancouver Island. “It was like being in a middle of a drumming circle.”. By signing up for our newsletter, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. 29 photos of Vancouver under a fresh blanket of snow, Canucks trade draft pick to Rangers for goaltender Marek Mazanec, Justin Trudeau just visited Burnaby's La Forêt Bakery (PHOTOS). The ecological changes the otters trigger have an economic cost. The marine mammal trainers managed to capture some footage of the six sea otters playing in the snow, and well… you should just watch for yourself. “I don’t mind the sea otters,” says the 20-year old. Coastal wolves that patrol the Mission Group of islands are able to include sea otters on the menu of their marine diet, while harlequin ducks follow sea otters in the wintertime, also hoping for a good meal. In this case, the estimated gain in potential revenue for tourism operators in the region would be approximately $9.5, tourism opportunities, these profits may not reach First Nations communities that are not part of the wildlife tourism economy and yet are often negatively impacted by the return of. This summer we have had sporadic sightings of a few lone sea otters in the Port McNeill / Telegraph Cove area but you would be extremely lucky to see one. Now they’re thriving in their Aquarium habitat. Hunted to extirpation by fur traders, sea otters were absent in British Columbia by the 1930s. Meet the four, charming, inspiring sea otters and learn about their rescue stories: Elfin: One of the two male sea otters, Elfin was found alone in the waters near Juneau, Alaska by fishermen in 2001. westcoastexpeditions.com. Sea urchins are normally too large and too deep for the harlequin ducks to get themselves, but when the sea otters crack open the urchins at the surface, the ducks enjoy the urchin scraps in the otters’ wake. Increasingly, the recovery of sea otters can attract tourist dollars. Nowhere in Canada can one view larger populations of Sea Otters foraging in enormous kelp forests. Rechsteiner suspects that as otters pull bunches of large mussels off the rocks, this creates bare patches where juvenile invertebrates can settle and grow, which in turn feeds the oystercatchers who cannot eat the larger mussels. The island, which boasts an intact old-growth rainforest with giant Sitka spruce trees and Western redcedar trees that are over 1,000 years, is also in the heart of sea otter country. 29 photos of Vancouver under a fresh blanket of snow Tiny sculpins busily move around the marine algae in tide pools alongside a myriad of other invertebrates, while crabs play hide-and-seek in the exposed seagrass beds. In an environment where otters are absent, sea urchins thrive and eradicate kelp beds. “The sea otters provide this really cool prey subsidy to the ducks,” says Rechsteiner. Located in beautiful Port Alice, B.C. “The best-known effect of sea otters is an increase in kelp,” says Jane Watson, a marine ecologist at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo. Between 1969 and 1972, 89 otters from Alaska were reintroduced to Checleset Bay. For example, when otters dig seagrass beds to find clams and leave foraging holes behind, they may be oxygenating the soil and helping the seagrass grow faster. On land, visitors may also notice beach-cast kelp, another potential sea otter effect. West Coast Expeditions offers a variety of sea kayaking tours from Spring Island – including a five-day sea otter kayaking expedition. The Aquarium says the first meeting went very well, and they will continue to gradually introduce Tanu … This morning, for example. Vancouver Aquarium: two sea otters float around, napping, holding hands. Sign up for our newsletter to get exclusive content, contests, and perks direct to you. Hilda Hansen, a 94-year-old Kyuquot-Checleset First Nations elder, remembers the time before sea otters were reintroduced to the region, when she could just go to the beach with a bucket and pick up clams every day. They could easily be mistaken for bobbing kelp floats, but binoculars reveal a raft of about 120 sea otters. When Pinel leads land-based and kayak tours off Spring Island, he points to the multiple interactions between the sea otters and the local ecosystem, as tourists spot a flock of oystercatchers on a small rock or take notice of the healthy seagrass beds in the intertidal zone. “The jury is still out as what the seaotter’s engineering impacts are going to be on seagrass beds,” says Margot Hessing-Lewis, a marine ecologist at Hakai Institute who studies interactions between sea otters and the linkages between nearshore habitats such as seagrass beds and kelp forests. For example, Ryan Sabbas, Hilda Hansen’s grandson, guides tours with Pinel on Spring Island, and is a graduate of Vancouver Island-based Aboriginal Ecotourism Training Program. River Otters on Vancouver Island The North American River Otter (Lontra Canadensis) can be found in many places around Vancouver Island. Because urchins are very nutritious, it helps the birds make it through the winter. To a sea urchin, crab or clam, a sea otter is a fearsome predator. Unlike the shallow-diving ducks, otters can dive down more than 20 metres to retrieve sea urchins and other invertebrates off the seafloor. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the "Unsubscribe" link at the bottom of every email. Since then, otters have made a remarkable comeback. In celebration of Sea Otter Awareness Week and our Spotlight on Sea Otters on now at the Vancouver Aquarium, we would like to introduce the sea otters at the Aquarium. Their numbers and range have expanded rapidly, and there are now nearly 7,000 animals along the west coast of Vancouver Island and the central coast of B.C. Rechsteiner fondly remembers once seeing 50 male otters getting blown into a small cove during a winter storm on the central coast. The long-term influence of these ecology wizards on the landscape is still not entirely understood. At low tide, Spring Island’s shoreline becomes alive with colours and movement. Welcome to Sea Otter Eco Tours Welcome to Sea Otter Eco Tours Welcome to Sea Otter Eco Tours Welcome to Sea Otter Eco Tours. She suspects that kelp that wash up on the shoreline may feed the terrestrial ecosystem and the small animals that live on land, but more research needs to be done to test this assumption. The river otter is often confused with the sea otter, so we have a chart below that … It’s not just the kids that are enjoying Metro Vancouver’s fresh sheet of snow. Vancouver Aquarium: Sea Otter Encounter - See 8,446 traveler reviews, 5,216 candid photos, and great deals for Vancouver, Canada, at Tripadvisor. Sea otters are not related to seals or sea lions, but are rather a member of the mink family. There are about 5000 Sea otters in British Columbia, mostly seen in sea kelp beds from a boat. When otters are not present, sea urchins, abalone, clams, crabs, geoducks and other invertebrates increase in abundance, opening up opportunities for First Nations and commercial fishers to harvest them. You will have much better chances of seeing them on a trip from Tofino, or perhaps from Port Hardy with Nakwakto Rapids Tours. The Vancouver Aquarium is open every day from 10 am to 5 pm. Start typing to see results or hit ESC to close. One night in early July, a woman in the Vancouver Island village of Kyuquot heard the cries of an animal in distress through the darkness from the … Due to a ban on hunting, and reintroduction of a small population back into British Columbia, the sea otter populations off the west coast of Vancouver Island have been slowly increasing. “The jury is still out as what the sea. “That was our food.”. Unlike the shallow-diving ducks, otters can dive down more than 20 metres to retrieve sea urchins and other invertebrates off the seafloor. Between 1969 and 1972, 89 otters from Alaska were reintroduced to Checleset Bay. Canada. (Animal encounters are … “The sea otters came and destroyed everything,” Hansen says. Unlike other marine mammals, they do not have a layer of blubber to keep them warm. See also. “Sea otters are a lens, a door into so many topics about ecology, the history of British Columbia, First Nations, interactions with other species,” Pinel says. During his tours, Pinel promotes cultural interactions between Kyuquot-Checleset First Nations members and tourists through a traditional salmon feast around an open fire. They were so young that they didn’t know how to eat by themselves or groom themselves yet. When they first arrive in an area, they eat all the selfish they can: sea urchins first, but also abalone, mussels, clams, crabs and snails. “The fact that sea otters are the second most important factor in people’s choice to go on a wildlife tour, after whales, suggests that people are really interested in sea otters and that there is potential benefit to tourism on the west coast of Vancouver Island,” says Rebecca Martone who led the tourism study as a research associate with the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. ... See all photos. Sea otters were locally extinct in British Columbian waters in Canada, until a plane containing a romp of otters arrived and set off a population boom – with unintended consequences. The otters were feeding over kelp beds where they were pulling up red turban snails and smashing them in half on rocks that they used as tools. Spring Island, located in the Mission Group of Islands off the west coast of Vancouver Island, is near the Checleset Bay Ecological Reserve and the First Nations village of Kyuquot. Vancouver Island Range The sea otter is distributed exclusively on the west coast of the island, ranging from Cape Scott in the north, to Barkley Sound in the south (though southward expansion is likely occurring). They had just had a very successful fishing trip and were busily devouring a bunch of little flounders or sand dabs. River otters are very messy eaters—but they really appear to … “Some of them are resting, others are grooming, shaking their fur, repositioning.”, Pinel has made sea otter viewing a main focus of the ecotourism tours he has been leading for the last 20 years in the region. Oystercatchers are large black shorebirds, easily recognizable with their long bright, red bills. The reintroduction to B.C. This year, during many of our whale watching excursions, we have had the amazing opportunity to view these adorable marine mammals close to Victoria. Because of their higher metabolic rate, sea otters must eat up to a quarter of their weight daily to meet their energy requirements. In comparison, the equivalent figure for a high chance of seeing whales was $302. Also keep in mind that some animals may simply not get along well enough to spend time together without supervision. “Sea otters are a huge drivers of change,” says Erin Rechsteiner, a research ecologist at the Hakai Institute and a PhD student at the University of Victoria’s Applied Conservation Science Lab. Martone noted that although tourists value the charismatic otters, the wildlife tour operators she interviewed did not perceive sea otters as a strong factor influencing their business. Instead they rely on their dense fur coat for insulation against the cold. 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