Urchins
When One Endangered Species Eats Another
What do you do when one endangered species eats another?
Sea otters, once extirpated in Washington, are now recovering thanks to several transplantations from Alaska. They eat up to 25% of their body weight a day in abalone, clams, crabs, sea urchins, and other invertebrates. This is a concern, because the northern (pinto) abalone also has declined precipitously in Washington and efforts are underway to bring back this culturally and ecologically important mollusk. Complicating the issue, young abalone might hide under sea urchins for protection and Washington has a sizeable state and tribal commercial urchin harvest.
Sea Otter Research
The SeaDoc Society is improving the health of marine wildlife populations and the ecosystem upon which they depend by funding critical research, providing scientific support, and bringing stakeholders together. Like many SeaDoc Society-funded research projects, a recently completed project on sea otters is providing new information that is being used to better manage living marine resources.
