Otters Contribute to Carbon Absorbtion?

Photographer: Mike Baird

I read today in New Scientist about how healthy otter populations can keep the kelp beds growing well by chowing down on all those sea urchins that they love so much. Kelp with no otters gets eaten up by the urchins, while healthy kelp beds can absorb a lot of carbon- almost half a pound of carbon for every square meter of habitat where otters live (Discovery News). In Alaska, otter populations in the Aleutian Islands and Western Alaska have been going down, possibly due to a rise in killer whale populations or to pollutants or diseases carried by the ocean or foods the otters eat. A National Geographic article covers some of the diseases and chemicals that may be affecting the otter population. Other parts of Alaska have increasing or stable otter populations. Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports:

"Recovery of the Alaska sea otter population in the 1900’s was dramatic. Perhaps as few as 2,000 total animals existed in 1911, but by the mid-1970s the Alaska population numbered between 110,000 and 160,000. However, in the last two decades, the south-west Alaska stock of sea otters has declined sharply (over 80% in many locales), most likely due to predation by killer whales. In other parts of Alaska (south-central and southeast), populations generally appear to be stable or increasing."

I visited Valdez a couple of weeks ago with my my mom and my kids. We had a great time watching some otters there fishing near a fish weir. There were also seals and sea lions in the same spot. We could usually only see their heads, and it was fun for my kids to try and tell if it was an otter, seal or sea lion they were seeing come up out of the water from a distance. I don't have a great camera, but I'll put up some pictures and see if you can tell them apart.