How Sea Otters Help Save the Planet

#kpassionate #seaotter #otter
What is the relationship between co2 and sea otters? How could the reintroduction to sea otters to their habitat create a trophic cascade and be a potential solution to the climate crisis?

00:00 - Kelp forest and carbon sequestration
00:38 - 90% of kelp forests have disappeared
01:01 - Kelp forests rely on sea otters
01:28 - What is a keystone species?
01:55 - Sea otters and the fur trade
02:54 - Sea otter predators
03:57 - Sea otter diet
04:38 - Urchin barrens
04:59 - Trophic cascade
06:17 - Carbon sink
07:15 - How Sea otters Help Save the Planet
07:55 - Kpassionate

Sea otters are a keystone species. Which are species that play a critical role in maintaining the stability and health of their ecosystem just like a keystone in an arch. While the keystone is under the least pressure, without it the entire arch would collapse. This is exactly what happened when sea otters were hunted for their fur and their population fell to just one to two thousand individuals living in a fraction of their historic range.

This had a devastating effect on the fight against global warming. And it had everything to do with a sea otter’s impressive metabolism. They eat a quarter of their body weight every single day. One of their favorite things to eat are sea urchins. Sea urchins are voracious eaters. In fact, they are often the dominant herbivore in their environment. And their favorite food… is kelp.

So when the population of sea otters plunged the population of sea urchins soared. Left unchecked, these prickly echinoderms decimated the kelp forests. Turning the once vibrant ecosystems into underwater wastelands. Something called an urchin barren. Some of these urchin barren stretch for thousands of kilometers.

Globally, kelp forests lock up twice the amount of carbon the UK emits every year. They support more biodiversity and sequester more carbon than similar sized redwood groves. In areas where sea otters have recovered, kelp forests have not only returned but are flourishing! Growing at a rate of up to two feet per day.

This is just one reason why scientists like myself are advocating that more value should be placed on protecting and restoring sea otter populations as a natural solution to global warming.

Interested in ways you can help restore sea otters to their historic range? I encourage you to check out my friends at the Elakha Alliance. The Elakha Alliance was formed in 2018 by tribal, nonprofit, and conservation leaders with a shared belief in a powerful vision: an Oregon coast 50 years from now where our children and grandchildren co-exist along with a thriving sea otter population and a robust and resilient marine ecosystem.

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Music By
Cody Martin
Soundstripe

American Wildlife Video courtesy of
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center

American Bird Video courtesy of
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center

Small Mammal & Brook Trout Videos courtesy of
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center Creative Imagery

Wolves & Fur Trade Images
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Mountain-Prairie
Library and Archives Canada

Additional Imagery

[erutne]

thanks for all that you do! in due time sea otters will make the comeback of the century, they are resilient little cuties

[lovlyyollie]

I never get tired of seeing these beautiful animals and hearing about their effect on our environment. Great video!

[kylieellway]

Everyone should watch this - so interesting and informative...and cute.

[MsHayles]

I love the dissemination of scientific facts like this! Plus Otters are super cute so it's easier to get people to advocate for them, than more maligned keystone species like wolves (if I recall the reintroduction process was met with a lot of backlash for Yellowstone, with ongoing tensions).

Though even with the recovery of kelp forests, our impact as a species on our planet needs more radical change towards more eco-friendly and eco-conscious methods, and we're moving towards it (but perhaps not as readily as we should be). Though personally I worry that recovering kelp forests would be seen by big business and political circles as a sort of "carbon absorbtion" that would mitigate or allow the expansion (or 'freeze' the reduction) of fossil fuel use by slapping a "we've reduced carbon emissions globally by such and such".

[sarahsunshine]

Good morning beautiful Ms. KP. Thank you for another informative, well made and fun to watch video!

[karenpowell]

Very informative and well done, as always. Thank you!! 😀

[roselenab]

Thank you KP! Informative and beautiful!

[raspbrryswirl]

Thank you for this, Kristyn. So informative and beautifully put together.

[waterdragon]

Everything on the planet is interconnected and balances life on the planet. Except for humans. We decimate and destroy.

[bradwoodard]

As someone living in Monterey, I can't believe I'm just now finding your channel. Subscribed!

[rnunezc.]

Another great video, muchas gracias KP

[stephendavis]

In the UK, the government allows privatised water companies to pipe sewage into rivers and streams. Also, many environmental protections are going to be junked in order to allow increased building onto green belt land in order to promote "growth", so once again, profit comes first ahead of our ecology and environment....and always will until the lesson is learned.... hopefully not before it is too late!

[silverlily]

It's sad that we won't have these beautiful marine ambassadors in this tropical part of the world, but I hope our lovely sea otters would be able to balance the kelpdom again

[endangeredmarmot]

This is a great video, KP and Double.

[runningfromshire]

Great video! We need more people like you! #SeaOttersAreHeroes

[thumbprint]

Wonderful, informative video. I was wondering about weather engineering products and their impact on oceans. Is there anything available?

[valstarkgraf]

I have a story...it would take me a LONG TIME to explain all the different angles and problems about why sea otters simply cannot come further south than Point Conception in California. I'll try to give some pieces (I could go for hours...). It's a story worth telling and it is COMPLICATED. It makes me angry that sea otters cannot legally exist (for all practical purposes) in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (near where I live in Ventura County) per the agreements signed relating to the (mostly failed) reintroduction of Southern Sea Otters to San Nicholas Island in 1986. The "where sea otters are not allowed" corresponds to the shipping lanes for the port of Port Hueneme. The 1986 San Nicholas Island reintroduction was prompted by the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill that made prople take note that maybe it would be better to have a reserve population elsewhere in the state in case of an ecological disaster in the few coastal counties (mostly San Luis Obispo, Monterey, and Santa Cruz) where basically the ENTIRE Southern Sea Otter population lives. Petrochemical development in Santa Barbara County (including the leaking orphan well Holly off Goleta) makes it gross to go to the beach and has created a lot of pollution that would be dangerous for sea otters. The ports of Port Hueneme, Los Angeles, and Long Beach have shipping traffic and more pollution. There is a massive DDT dump site they have no idea what to do with off Catalina Island (which is giving the sea lions cancer at an alarming rate). There is more intense petrochemical development off the Los Angeles County and Orange County coasts. The military is huge further down the coast in San Diego County.

There simply is no place for sea otters to exist due to the activities of human industry and pollution, not even in a national marine sanctuary and its corresponding national park.

And all those "beautiful" beaches of Southern California are actually hiding the hidden horror of an urchin barren. The entire Southern California surf culture is due primarily to the absence of sea otters, because without otters there is no kelp, and the legendary surf beaches would look very different if we had kelp forests like the Central Coast.

[RizeTB]

Do you breed them for reintroducing? And if so, do you blood test for diversity before reintroducing them into different areas?

[joaodasilva]

What does keystone benefits for sea otters?

[brandiwhitaker]

Thank for making this video. I teach third grade and I am currently reading the book, Odder by Katherine Applegate, aloud to my class.
I took a break from the book yesterday because I needed a resource to better explain the importance of sea kelp to the otters. This video touched on every point I was making, including making that connect with the reintroduction of the wolves of Yellowstone. My students were able to connect it all together and I believe that the story of Odder has made a big impact on how they see the world around them and this video just solidified it for them. It’s so important for our children to understand all of this, so thank you for what you do. 🦦❤