Experiments to determine drift patterns and rates of recovery of sea otter carcasses following the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Marine mammal study 6-9. Exxon Valdez oil spill state/federal natural resource damage assessment final report
Two experiments were conducted to evaluate efforts to recover sea otter (Enhydra lutris) carcasses following the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The first study was implemented during sea otter rescue and carcass recovery activities to assess the probability of carcass recovery. Twenty-five previously recovered sea otter carcasses were marked with flipper tags and released near northern Kodiak Island between 27 May and 3 June 1989. Five were recovered, for a recovery rate of 20%. In the second study, 30 radio-monitored floats designed to assess drift characteristics of floating sea otter carcasses were deployed in early summer 1990. During a 43-day monitoring period, 27 were known to have washed ashore, 25 in Prince William Sound (PWS) and two on the Gulf of Alaska coast of Montague Island. These studies suggest that many more sea otters may have died from the spill than were recovered, and that some sea otters succumbing to oil exposure in PWS could have drifted outside of PWS and never been recovered.
- Research Organization:
- Alaska Fish and Wildlife Research Center, Anchorage, AK (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 426722
- Report Number(s):
- PB-96-194972/XAB; TRN: 62392976
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: May 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Age-specific reproduction in female sea otters (`enhydra lutris`) from southcentral Alaska: Analysis of reproductive tracts. Marine mammal study 6-4. Exxon Valdez oil spill state/federal natural resource damage assessment final report
Sea otter abundance, distribution, and pup production in Prince William Sound following the Exxon Valdez oil spill