California Sea Otters Could Face New Threats if Trump Weakens Law for Endangered Animals

Gena Bentall paddled her kayak deep into Elkhorn Slough on the lookout for the flip of a tail or the bob of a head. About a mile in, sea otters bobbed in the water everywhere.

Some dove under the water while munching on crab parts. Others floated on their backs, pups sprawled on their bellies. At 2 miles in, she spotted a raft of about 15 sea otters clustered together.

“Every time I watch a mom with a pup, my heart flutters a little bit,” said Bentall, director and senior scientist with the nonprofit Sea Otter Savvy. “They are so devoted and so caring with their pups that it gets me in the feels every single time.”

Around a hundred southern sea otters make their home in Elkhorn Slough, a 7-mile-long tidal marsh and estuary on Monterey Bay, which is also home to a diverse array of birds, plants, fish, and other marine mammals. Some call it one of the state’s last great coastal wetlands, which conservationists have fought to preserve for decades.

“We’ve seen ecosystems restored as they recovered,” Bentall said. “They’re bringing with them a wave of biodiversity, recovery, resilience and restoration that goes way beyond just the restoration of their numbers. It’s all linked together.”

Bentall and other wildlife enthusiasts are concerned that those preservation efforts could be threatened.

In April, the Trump administration proposed limiting the Endangered Species Act’s power to preserve habitats. Ecologists argue that the move could have severe consequences for a wide range of ecosystems and species, including the southern sea otter, which is listed as threatened under federal law.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service proposed altering the text of the Endangered Species Act to redefine the word “harm” as it pertains to endangered species, a term that has been interpreted to include ecosystem protections. The law would likely still forbid any action that hurts or kills an endangered animal, but could no longer extend protections to the habitats where they live.

Supporters of the change claim environmentalists have abused the law to limit real estate development, farming, logging and other business activities.

What this would mean for Elkhorn Slough, the only estuary along the West Coast where sea otters have significantly colonized, won’t be known until after the final rule is released.

However, wildlife advocates and scientists argue that protecting species and their environments go hand in hand. While the sea otters have helped stabilize marshland and promote eelgrass growth, ultimately mitigating some of the worst effects of human-caused climate change.

Meanwhile, April Ridlon, director of science for the U.S. Ocean Conservation Program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, said otters rely on the living ecosystem for their survival.

“If they don’t have anything to eat, we can pick up, feed and nurture otters, and release them as much as we want, but if the ecosystems they’re going back to are degraded they’re not going to fare well,” Ridlon said.

Federal wildlife officials published a proposal in the Federal Register that said they are “undertaking this change to adhere to the single, best meaning” of the Endangered Species Act. A federal spokesperson told KQED they would not “speculate” on how sea otters would be affected.

Hundreds of thousands of comments

Over 350,000 responses flooded in during the public comment period that ended in May. Of the thousands of comments from Californians, the majority opposed the rule change. Some groups labeled it an act of “insanity,” while others argued that maintaining the current definition is “vital protection for endangered species.”

More than a dozen museums, aquariums and wildlife groups sent a joint letter to the federal government strongly urging the withdrawal of the proposed rule. They note that “habitat destruction is the greatest driver of species extinction” and removing harm from the definition “runs contrary to the intent of the” act.

Comments from supporters argued, on the other hand, that scaling back enforcement would address a “longstanding obstacle that has blocked countless necessary projects.”

At least 40 supporters — including major farm organizations and water agencies — wrote a letter arguing regulators’ interpretation of the act is too broad and has resulted in the slowing, halting, or blocking of “activities that are critical to sustain the economic livelihoods of private landowners, farmers, ranchers, water users,” and rural communities. They wrote that projects are often tied up in expensive lawsuits, excessive permitting, even in areas where endangered species may no longer live.

Ian Lyle, director of federal relations for the Association of California Water Agencies, argues the change would pave the way for developing water infrastructure — everything from desalination to new storage to water recycling — in a way that “balances the needs of species with the needs of California and communities in the face of climate resilience needs.”

Kari Fisher, senior director and counsel of the California Farm Bureau Federation, which represents hundreds of farmers, told KQED that farmers care about wildlife, and if there’s a concern about a species, that would still be addressed. But said the change could pave the way for growers and species to coexist, “as well as economic prosperity for farmers and ranchers.”

‘The poster child for top predators’

Fur traders hunted sea otters almost to extinction during the 18th and 19th centuries, and in California, their numbers dwindled to around 50.

Today, there are more than 3,000 sea otters in California, and they’re “all descendants of those incredible tough survivors that managed to evade the fur trade,” Bentall said.

The resurgence of the furry animals is a testament to the restoration efforts of wildlife officials, environmental protections, and organizations like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which rehabilitate sea otters and release them into Elkhorn Slough and other conservation areas.

Sea otters still face risks, such as white sharks that bite and kill them, mistaking them for seals. Bentall said the prevalence of sharks along the California coast is one reason the species has had trouble extending its home range.

The other issue is the loss of around 95% of Northern California’s kelp forests, where sea otters historically found refuge and foraged for crabs, abalone, snails and other food. Human-caused climate change, warming the Pacific Ocean, has led to urchin outbreaks and declining sea star populations.

Kelp along the Central Coast has fared better. A 2021 study by researchers from UC Santa Cruz and the Monterey Bay Aquarium found that the presence of sea otters in Monterey Bay slowed the decline of kelp, resulting in areas of lush kelp forests.

Meanwhile, Elkhorn Slough, with the highest concentration of sea otters in the state, has proven a haven for otters. Brent Hughes, a biologist at Sonoma State University, who studies sea otter habitats, found that the furry creatures are restabilizing marshlands by consuming an overabundance of crabs that have eaten away at their banks.

“They’re kind of like the poster child for top predators and conservation,” Hughes said. “There are now generations of sea otters at Elkhorn Slough that have never even seen a kelp forest. All they know are these salt marshes and seagrass beds.”

By removing swarms of crabs, both native and invasive, sea otters opened the door for eelgrass to flourish, creating a lush bed that can better sequester carbon in its root systems and soil — much like the trees of a redwood forest.

“It’s not just the sea otter numbers coming back, it’s whole ecosystems,” Bentall said.

‘It’s mind-boggling’

Even if the federal government decides to more narrowly interpret its conservation law, other protections remain in place for species like sea otters. The Marine Mammal Protection Act — also, under threat by Republican lawmakers — protects not only sea otters but also all marine mammals from harassment. Meanwhile, Elkhorn Slough is part of the NOAA Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and the National Estuarine Research Reserve.

But Ridlon, with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, said it won’t just be sea otters and their habitat at risk. There are more than 1,500 threatened and endangered species on the federal Endangered Species List.

“It’s mind-boggling when you think about how many species and the recovery of how many populations could actually be affected by a change like this,” Ridlon said. “It’s huge.”

For sea otters, whose populations are rebounding, Ridlon said scaling back regulations “feels like pulling the rug out from under one of the essential protections that has allowed us to make that progress.”

On Bentall’s way back to the docks, two sea otters popped up a few feet from her kayak, fighting over a shellfish. Bentall said they’re oblivious to the federal tug-of-war over protections that just might have the power to alter their home.

While Elkhorn Slough’s capacity to hold sea otters is nearly full, Bentall said she would like to see the otter population spread along the entire California coastline to recover its historical range. She dreams of seeing sea otters where she grew up in Laguna Beach, in Orange County.

“I’d love to see sea otters back in my hometown down in Southern California someday and sit on the beach and look out and watch a raft of sea otters,” Bentall said.