Communities in Southeast Alaska are ramping up calls on the federal government to better manage the region’s booming sea otter population and its impacts on key fisheries.
The City and Borough of Wrangell approved a resolution in July urging federal agencies to work together with Alaska Native tribes and the state to address the proliferation of sea otters across Southeast.
Around the same time, the borough called on more than a dozen other governments and organizations to follow suit. So far, at least two communities have: Petersburg is considering a similar resolution, and Haines approved one last month.
The concern largely revolves around sea otters’ impact on species that are crucial for commercial and subsistence fishermen in Southeast Alaska. Critics say the otters’ eating habits are leading to the decline of species ranging from crab and oysters to sea cucumbers and abalone.
“In the 60s and 70s, you could drop a crab pot anywhere in Glacier Bay and catch all kinds of crab,” Haines Borough Assembly Member Craig Loomis, who supported the resolution, said in an interview earlier this week. “Now, it’s almost impossible to catch a crab.”
There is some scientific research that backs up the general concern. That includes a study from 2013, which found sea otters were escalating the decline of sea cucumbers.
But there’s still a long list of questions around the animals’ ultimate impact on the marine ecosystem and fisheries more specifically.
A paper published in 2024, for instance, concluded that while “the initial reintroduction of sea otters to Sitka Sound coincided with a notable decrease in abalone numbers,” the ongoing implications of otters on abalone are “much less clear and direct.”
What is certain is that the region’s sea otter population has increased dramatically since the 1960s, when the state reintroduced them. That happened after the species nearly disappeared amid the Russian fur trade.
The most recent population survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that there were around 22,000 ottersin the region in 2022 – more than double the estimate back in 2008.
According to the survey, the population is still far below the number of otters the region should be able to support: 48,000.
Still, commercial and subsistence fishermen have reported major consequences from the repopulation for years. In Wrangell’s regionwide call to action, for instance, the city and borough manager wrote that the issue is at a “breaking point” in the community, and has led to the “near-collapse” of once-abundant crab fisheries and dive harvest areas.
Robert Venables, the executive director of Southeast Conference, said the population has also hit mariculture farmers.
“There was one that told me they felt like they were setting a cafeteria because they were being raided on a regular basis,” he said.
Notably, surveys and local observations indicate otters so far have not established a major presence in the Upper Lynn Canal, near Haines. But Loomis, the borough assembly member, says he’s concerned that will change.
“Now, are the sea otters coming this way? Absolutely,” Loomis said.
Similar efforts go back years
The resolutions coincide with a proposal last month from Alaska U.S. Rep. Nick Begich to roll back parts of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
That law covers mammals, including sea otters. That means they are managed by the federal government and can only be hunted by coastal Alaska Native people for subsistence or traditional crafts.
The recent Southeast resolutions call on federal agencies to develop new management plans, provide disaster assistance to impacted fisheries and loosen restrictions that limit how Alaska Native hunters can use sea otters.
“The federal management mandate does not really allow an aggressive approach to managing that species,” Venables said. “So Wrangell’s taken the lead on that, and Southeast conference and others have spoken out in support. ”
It’s far from the first time the issue has come up. Communities, crabbers and dive fishermen have raised concerns about the issue and sought relief for more than a decade.
As recently as 2023, officials in Ketchikan pressed the Alaska Board of Game to devise a management plan for otter populations. The board dismissed the proposal given that the sea otters are protected under federal law.
And in 2019, federal and state officials gathered with scientists, fishermen and tribal groups to pinpoint potential solutions. That meeting resulted in a document that indicated next steps could entail more research, developing local harvest plans, and seeking funding to launch a sea otter skin sewing program.
When asked for comment, staff at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service passed along several resources related to sea otter management in Southeast but did not respond to questions about the resolutions or the issue more broadly. Staff at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game declined to comment and directed KHNS to the federal agency.
