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Return of the Sea Otter, return of the kelp beds - Printable Version

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Return of the Sea Otter, return of the kelp beds - Catherine - 08-05-2020

The sea otter along the west coast of Canada was hunted until they were no more. They were cute and charming, with a thick, dark coat and that was their undoing. 
Once they were gone there was no more fur trade in sea otter pelts. There was also no more kelp beds. Without the sea otters to control them the sea urchins proliferated. They ate the kelp until the great kelp forest were no more. With the decline in the kelp forests,  biodiversity declined. The whole west coast ecosystem suffered.

In 1970, 89 sea otters were relocated to the west coast of Vancouver Island. The established themselves and expanded their territory. They ate the sea urchins and the kelp forest came back. With the kelp forest returning,  biodiversity returned.

Just like the wolves of Yellowstone National Park, the sea otters have stabilized the ecosystem and it is returning to its natural sustainable state.


https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/otters

This is an eco-success story. Bringing back a lost member of an ecosystem has brought back the ecosystem.
Things are still in transition and it will take time for the sea otters to return to their  full territory. The humans that are impacted by the change will have to make some adjustments and there will be economic changes.  In the end the benefits will outweigh any difficulties.

Biodiversity and the return of the kelp forests are more important that most people realize.
This article is about the US  Coast and the kelp is having different problems, but it does explain why the kelp forests are so important.


https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2020/05/27/5-reasons-to-protect-kelp-the-west-coasts-powerhouse-marine-algae

The issues of carbon capture and climate change mitigation are more than enough reason to protect the kelp. We need the kelp for our own benefit.
Providing safe habitats for a variety of fish and expanding their numbers is equally important.

Bringing the sea otters back has done all that and more. Sea otters are a keystone creature in the ecosystem and with their return we can hope to restore at least a part of a damaged ecosystem.


RE: Return of the Sea Otter, return of the kelp beds - LPC - 08-05-2020

This is indeed good news. Humans are - in this place at least - putting right the damage they caused in the first place.

It is sad how many creatures have been made extinct by the actions of humans. One of my favourites, the dodo, will unfortunately never return:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo


RE: Return of the Sea Otter, return of the kelp beds - Catherine - 08-06-2020

There have been a number of places where they have restored animals to their rightful habitats. The results have been good for the whole ecosystem.

Of course that only works if there are living specimens left. Sadly with the Dodo they are all gone. We will never really know what the Dodo was like and that is sad. It can't even be remembered properly. 

My favorite is the woolly mammoth. I know they went extinct a long time ago, but still I wish I could have seem them.

In North American they wiped out the Passenger Pigeon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon

There were so many pigeons and then there were none.

Loss of a species because of human activity has become so common that there is even a term for it.  It is called Anthropogenic Extinction.
You know it is bad when they have a scientific term for it.

Putting animals back and restoring their ecosystems is the least we can do. It doesn't make up for the ones that are gone forever, but it does show a commitment to do better in the future.
 


RE: Return of the Sea Otter, return of the kelp beds - LPC - 08-06-2020

I had heard of the extinction of the carrier pigeon. The article is interesting. They were attractive birds. To think that they went from being the most populous bird in N America to complete extinction is really sad.


RE: Return of the Sea Otter, return of the kelp beds - Catherine - 08-07-2020

We seem to have the idea that any animal that is abundant can be killed in large numbers. We just kill and kill until there are no more and then we act surprised. 
There are just a few times that we wake up in time to save a species. We should never have killed them off in the first place.