🚀 go-pugleaf

Our site ("garth") must still be having problems getting some news-groups.
I find it very difficult to believe that this news-group has had either
zero postings for "ca.environment" and a handful of postings
in "sci.environment", during the largest oil-spill ever in U.S. waters.
Maybe this posting will somehow rattle some electronic net cages.
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Among the critters that have been a focus of concern as the oil-spill
in Prince William Sound (PWS) is the sea otter: _Enhydra lutris_.

The concern exists because of the *theoretically* high vulnerability
to death from hypothermia of sea otters exposed to substantial amounts
of oil.  They have no significant subcutaneous fat layer (e.g., unlike seals)
to make up the difference in insulation if oil seeps in and replaces
the air trapped by their fur that provides the insulation.

The PWS spill will show whether Deity, in Her benificence, protects sea otters 
in addition to babies and drunks -- except the _Exxon Valdez_ captain :-).

One spill in the Soviet Union decades ago (1956 ? 1968? -- info not available 
where I am right now) resulted in the deaths of approximately 100 sea otters
(I can dig up the information and post that if there is interest; all other
information in this posting is solid, unlike this hazily remembered paragraph).
Maybe Deity doesn't protect atheist Russki otters.

Two recent oil spills in the presence of sea otters: the _Apex Houston_ barge
spill that stretched from north of San Francisco south to Los Angeles (1986?), 
and the late-December 1988 barge spill in Washington, have resulted in a total
(as of mid-February) of exactly *one* sea otter that shows evidence
of being killed by either spill combined (*two* otter pups were found
thoroughly coated with oil -- "tarballs", one scientist called the pups --
but there was no proof that the pups had not died first and been oiled second;
many otter pups die a natural death in winter storms in Washington).  This 
information came from nearby U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) sources.
According to the state of Washington, there are an estimated 136 sea otters
in its waters, as derived from an actual count of 107 sea otters.

I am well aware that this is contrary to the impression given by an otherwise
commendable newspaper ad by Greenpeace, commemmorating the 20th anniverary 
of the Santa Barbara Platform-A spill, which claimed that "countless numbers 
of ... sea otters ... were threatened or killed" by the Washington spill.
There is a big difference to me between being "threatened" or "killed" 
(e.g.: "San Jose had a > 6.0 earthquake a few years ago, and 1 million people 
were threatened or killed" :-).  The Greenpeace writer defended his claims: 
"this is marketing, not science".  Maybe -- it certainly wasn't *science*.

I have tried to get accurate data (e.g., *not* what I or someone else 
might read in the newspapers or hear on TV) on the impacts on their population
up there.  Most of my information sources are "in the field" -- up in Alaska,
including sea otter specialists and capture teams from California.  
Those left behind are rather frantically trying to transport rescue hardware 
such as portable doggie kennels (for transporting rescued otters) and 
to get more wildlife rescue teams up there.

The following is the most recent population data that I have for sea otters
in Alaska, from a 1988 report by the U.S.  Marine Mammal Commission:
"Selected Marine Mammals Of Alaska", derived from a 1985 document by the State
of Alaska.  With tens of thousand of miles of coastline (40,000?), Alaskans 
do not count sea otters regularly, unlike Californians.  The numbers are, 
if I recall correctly, lower and upper bounds on estimates made from counts 
made by various methods (e.g., from boats, from aircraft):

                                 lower      upper 
Southeast Alaska:                  600 to     800
Yakutat to Cape St. Elias:         100 to     100 (really just 1 number)
*Prince William Sound*:          4,000 to   6,000 #
Kenai Peninsula to Cook Inlet:   2,500 to   3,500
Kodiak Archipelago:              4,000 to   6,000
Alaskan Peninsula (south side): 22,000 to  30,000
Alaskan Peninsula (north side): 11,700 to  17,200 #
Aleutian Islands:               55,100 to  73,700
------------------------------- -----------------
total:                          99,945 to 137,245 ^

#: New data was expected to be available "real soon now" after August 1988.
^: Yes, the numbers do not add up; nonetheless, all the numbers were dictated
   to me over the phone in 1988 by USFWS personnel in Alaska.  The discrepancy 
   might be to account for differences among methods or the freshness of the 
   numbers.  Botom line: they really shouldn't be summed to a total, but
   what's a guy to do ?  The guy I got them from is now "in the field".

[Disclaimer: Any technical errors above are probably mine, and 
 therefore, not the fault of any state or federal wildlife agency.  
 They commit different errors :-]
-- 
[The foregoing may or may not represent the position, if any, of my employer, ]
[ who is identified solely to allow the reader to account for personal biases.]
 
Clay Phipps                         {ingr,pyramid,sri-unix!hplabs}!garth!phipps
Intergraph APD, 2400#4 Geng Road, Palo Alto, CA 93403              415/494-8800
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"A great many people do not have a right to their own opinion
because they don't know what they're talking about."             -- Andy Rooney