Anchorage Daily News

KODIAK -- Threatened sea otters in Southwest Alaska received more protection last week in hopes it will help boost a rebound of their dwindling numbers. There were over 100,000 sea otters in Southwest waters in the 1970s but fewer than 40,000 now. Some areas have seen numbers plummet 90 percent.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated nearly 6,000 square miles as "critical habitat" in nearshore waters of the Alaska Peninsula, Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea. Areas close to shore provide most of the shellfish that otters eat; the shallow waters also protect the sea otters from killer whale predators -- a suspected reason for their decline. The Fish and Wildlife Service said the designation should not cause any fishing closures.

It's far different in Southeast Alaska, where sea otters are booming.

"Sea otters have one of the most rapid reproductive rates in the mammalian kingdom. They are able to reproduce at any time of the year, and they have a population-doubling time of about five years," said Nathan Soboleff, who tracks and tags sea otters for the federal Marine Mammal Office in Juneau.

Estimates peg the Southeast sea otter population at roughly 10,500 -- but that's based on surveys that are more than five years old.

As an Alaska Native, Soboleff also can hunt sea otters -- one of the few ways to keep the animals in check. Since a federal tracking program began in 1989, 14,078 sea otters have been tagged and harvested statewide, Soboleff said.

In Southeast the sea otters pose a growing threat to several important fisheries, notably, Dungeness crab. However, Soboleff said, Native hunting is dropping off considerably.

Federal data show that Natives took 704 sea otters statewide in 2007, 633 last year and 471 as of mid-August this year.

"Traditionally, people went out commercial fishing and they would do a lot of harvesting while they were out there," Soboleff said. "Now, with so many fishing permits gone and economies hurting, people aren't making these long-distance treks to harvest marine mammals and other subsistence resources because it is prohibitively expensive. So you're seeing less harvest occur when, in the case of sea otters, we should probably be increasing it."

About 90 percent of the world's sea otters live in Alaska waters. The Fish and Wildlife Service will conduct an extensive sea otter survey throughout Southeast next year.

Fishermen's input wanted

The new project that aims to compile labor data on deckhands is on track to go before the Alaska Legislature in January. There are virtually no economic data on that Alaska work force of roughly 20,000 self-employed fishermen.

"The people who work as crew members on fishing boats are probably one of the only groups of laborers in Alaska that is not counted in some way by the state. It's long overdue," said project director Jan Conitz with the state Commercial Fisheries Division in Juneau.

What is needed now is more input from fishermen, Conitz said, as the contractor, Wostmann & Associates of Juneau, aims to wrap up interviews with agencies and stakeholders this month.

"The purpose of the interviews is to gather information on things like typical practices in fisheries, how people would use the data, what would be the most convenient way for people to report the data, what kind of technology people are using on their boats, things like that," Conitz said.

Three options are being analyzed for the data collection. One would use existing electronic landing reports or fish tickets; the others would require skippers to keep logbooks on all deckhands.

The labor data collection program will need a nod from Alaska lawmakers.

"What we need is specific legislation requiring that data about crew members is reported," Conitz said. "Currently, it doesn't have to be and it isn't done. And if you have a reporting requirement about data for people, then you have to make sure that the individual confidentiality is protected." Contact Jan Conitz at 907-465-4125 or jan.conitz@alaska.gov.

Laine Welch is a Kodiak-based fisheries journalist. Her Fish Radio programs can be heard on stations around the state. Her information column appears every other Sunday. This material is protected by copyright. For information on reprinting or placing on your Web site or newsletter, contact msfish@alaska.com.

ADVERTISEMENT