FRIDAY JUNEAU EMPIRE April 13, 2007 November ‘08 deadline set for sea otter habitat Date comes three years after animals listed as threatened

By MARY PEMBERTON The Associated Press

ANCHORAGE - A federal agency has until November 2008 to decide whether to designate critical habitat for sea otters in southwest Alaska, where the smallest of marine mammals are becoming increasingly scarce.

The deadline on critical habitat to support the animals’ recovery comes more than three years after the animals were listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Normally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife The Associated Press / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Service would have had to designate Floating by: This 2006 photo shows Southwest Alaska sea otters fl oating in a critical habitat when the animals net during a research project in the waters off of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. were listed as threatened on Aug. 9, 2005, said Miyoko Sakashita, a would designate critical habitat for statewide population is believed to lawyer for the Arizona-based Center southwest Alaska sea otters. be about 70,000, with about 41,000 for Biological Diversity, which fi led of those in southwest Alaska. a lawsuit to get the federal agency However, the situation needs more to act more quickly to protect the study, including the economic The Aleutian Island chain in animals. impacts to fi shing, shipping, southwest Alaska once had an port activities and oil and gas estimated 75,000 sea otters. Now, “It has been eight years since they development, if critical habitat is there are about 8,700 among the have been aware of this problem,” designated, said Rosa Meehan, chief islands that extend far out into the she said Thursday. of the agency’s marine mammal Bering Sea. program in Anchorage. If the Fish and Wildlife Service The reason for the decline is not decides critical habitat is needed, it “We agree that habitat protection known. Meehan said the prominent has until Oct. 1, 2009, to make the may be an important factor,” she theory continues to be that killer designation. said. whales are eating more sea otters because of the decline in larger The agency previously indicated in Ninety percent of the world’s sea marine mammals. response to public comments that it otters live in coastal Alaska. The Meehan said the killer whale theory not be harmful to the recovery of mile long Aleutian Island chain in prevails because there is no other sea otters in the area. the Bering Sea. evidence that any other mechanism is at work for causing numbers in In January, the Bush administration The Fish and Wildlife Service last the Aleutians to plummet. lifted a presidential ban on oil and did a full count of western Alaska gas drilling in Bristol Bay. The sea otters in 2002. The agency When Southwest Alaska sea otters area had been under congressional determined that the population of were listed, the Fish and Wildlife protection since 1990, one year after sea otters had declined by more than Service was given an additional the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spilled half in two decades. year to make a determination about nearly 11 million gallons of crude in critical habitat. Sakashita said when Prince William Sound. The sound’s Bruce Woods, a spokesman in the it appeared the agency was doing sea otters are not part of the western agency’s Anchorage offi ce, said nothing to meet the Aug. 9, 2006, population. declines have continued at some deadline, the Center for Biological sites. Diversity fi led the lawsuit. More than 1,000 sea otter carcasses were found after the Exxon Valdez “The total is probably smaller,” he “Habitat protection for the sea otter spill. said. is critically important,” Sakashita said. “We were concerned because The Interior Department has said there are new plans for opening it plans to make Bristol Bay leases up the Bering Sea to oil and gas available in 2010 and 2012, pending development... Otters are particularly environmental reviews. vulnerable to oil spills.” The Aleutian Island sea otters are Once critical habitat is designated, all among Alaska’s western population, federal agencies would be required which extends from Cook Inlet near to ensure that any activities would Anchorage to the end of the 1,000-