Biological impacts of translocated sea otters. Final report

Technical Report · Fri May 04 00:00:00 EDT 1990

OSTI ID:6497235

Ralls, K; Siniff, D B; Doroff, A; Mercure, A

Sea otters are one of the wildlife species most sensitive to oil spills. If an oil spill occurred in the southern part of the sea otter range in California, otters would probably be captured and released in an uncontaminated area to the north. However, if the relocated otters returned to the capture area while oil was still present, they might be contaminated. The main objective of the contract was to learn more about the behavior and movement patterns of sea otters relocated along the central California coast. The authors captured 21 otters and instrumented them with Temple-tag radio transmitters. Using radiotelemetry, we were able to follow the movements of 19 of these otters (18 males and 1 female). They were captured in the southern part of the range near Shell Beach and released about 291 km to the north (as measured on the 5-fathom line) at Moss Landing. None of the 10 otters held in pens for 48 hours prior to release returned to the capture area during the 26 to 89-day monitoring period. Five of the nine otters not held in pens prior to release returned to the capture area 13 to 46 days after release.

• Research Organization: Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis, MN (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6497235
• Report Number(s): PB-90-263328/XAB; CNN: DI-14-12-0001-30451
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
OIL SPILLS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
OTTERS
BEHAVIOR
TRANSPORT
CALIFORNIA
COASTAL REGIONS
PROGRESS REPORT
RADIO EQUIPMENT
TELEMETRY
TIME DEPENDENCE
ANIMALS
COMMUNICATIONS
DATA TRANSMISSION
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
FEDERAL REGION IX
MAMMALS
NORTH AMERICA
USA
VERTEBRATES
020900* - Petroleum- Environmental Aspects
550100 - Behavioral Biology