In 2007, there were just over 3,000 sea otters living along the Central California Coast. It wasn’t that many, but there was still reason for hope. After all, the entire population was descended from just 50 otters living near Big Sur back in 1938. With careful preservation policies, the California sea otter was brought back from the brink of extinction.
But lately otters have been turning up dead. And scientists are saying the culprit is—you guessed it—us. The problem has to do with extensive farming in the region and leakage of chemical fertilizers and industrial farming wastes into the local waters. Plants and algae consume these chemicals and grow to enormous sizes. The problem is that they carry the chemicals with them. These make their way up the food chain and accumulate in the otters.
The biggest problem seems to be microcystin, a toxic chemical that is known to cause liver damage to otters (and humans), and which is being studied as a possible carcinogenic. This is building up in the otter population, causing liver disease and even cancer. The otters may benefit from an abundance of food, but that food may be poisonous, claims a study by UC Santa Cruz researchers.
This may be cause for alarm, not only for the otters but for us as well. There is no reason why the microcystin would stop its climb up the food change at the otter, and it has been attributed to a spate of premature dog deaths in the region. How much higher up the food chain it goes is anybody’s guess. Meanwhile, microcystin continues to seep into the water surrounding Monterey Bay. With no regulations in place, and no standardized means to measure microcystin levels in the water, there is no reason why this will not continue.
Otters are disappearing now, but that may just be a harbinger of things to come. Read more at NBC Bay Area and the Californian.
