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<\/p>\nHalf a century ago, sea otters were on the brink of extinction along British Columbia\u2019s coast. Pulled from the frigid, untamed waters of Alaska, these charismatic creatures were brought back to their ancestral habitat. Today, they thrive through kelp forests and rugged inlets, celebrated as a symbol of one of the conservation\u2019s greatest comebacks. But with their return has come an unexpected reckoning, leading some First Nations to ask for the return of hunting \u2014 a practice that has been outlawed for generations.<\/p>\n
Mariah Charleson, the 37-year-old chief councillor of Hesquiaht First Nation, grew up paddling in Hot Springs Cove, which was once rich with clams and Dungeness crabs. Just across from her childhood home, the seabed teemed with shellfish and crab traps were set regularly across the cove. But over the last decade, shellfish have vanished as sea otters consume the same clams, crabs and other marine species that Hesquiaht families have relied on for generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cA child now wouldn\u2019t grow up seeing any of that. When I was a child, that was part of daily life. Now, it\u2019s no longer possible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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Sea otters consume roughly a third of their body weight each day, decimating shellfish beds. In response, some Nuu Chah Nulth community leaders urge the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to establish a regulated sea otter hunt \u2014 a way for communities to reclaim stewardship and balance ecological and cultural needs.<\/p>\n
Sea otter harvesting was a tightly regulated practice among Indigenous communities, said Cliff Alteo, an elder from the Ahousaht First Nation. \u201cIt wasn’t about destroying a population or anything like that. It was about managing and protecting a food chain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Historically, the communities carefully managed harvest zones by killing sea otters and anchoring their bodies around the urchin beds. \u201cIt was a sign to the other sea otters to stay out of that area,\u201d Charleson said. \u201cThat’s something that our ancestors would have done.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is currently no authorized harvest of sea otters, including for food, social or ceremonial purposes. Charleson said they had asked DFO directly what information they had on sea otter numbers and on the species they feed on in their territories. \u201cDFO doesn\u2019t have any of that data,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re missing a really important part of the picture. We live it every day and what they rely on is just poor, spotty data.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to questions from Canada\u2019s National Observer, a spokesperson for the DFO said that the department is aware some First Nations are interested in harvesting the species and that it\u2019s working with experts to update and collect sea otter population data.<\/p>\n
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The recovery of sea otters is hailed as a conservation success story but for coastal Indigenous communities, they are unraveling the lifeblood of traditional shellfish harvests, pitting the protection of a species against the preservation of a way of life.<\/p>\n
Shellfish vs sea otters <\/p>\n
Andrew Trites, director of Marine Mammal Research Unit and professor of Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia, said sea otters are among the most \u201cinfluential predators\u201d in coastal ecosystems. Sea otters eat large numbers of sea urchins, which otherwise would overgraze kelp, protecting and allowing kelp forests to thrive. They also dig up clams, turning over the seabed \u201cmuch like a farmer would turn over soil.\u201d<\/p>\n
While they are important for the ecosystem’s health, their feeding drastically reduces shellfish species that hold cultural and economic importance for many First Nations communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cSea otters love to eat everything that humans love to eat,\u201d said Jenn Burt, a marine ecologist and BC marine program lead at Nature United. \u201cWherever sea otters are, the things that we love to eat typically aren’t. Crabs, clams, sea urchins, most shellfish get very heavily depleted where sea otters are.\u201d <\/p>\n
But instead of being seen as pests or competitors, sea otters held a special place, she said. <\/p>\n
Otters are the original keystone species \u2014 the critical \u201clock\u201d holding an ecosystem together \u2014 that once roamed the entire stretch of ocean from California to Japan and lived in delicate balance with other marine life and the Indigenous peoples who inhabited those shores for millennia. Burt described this as a system marked by \u201creally complex management and governance systems in place.\u201d Indigenous communities developed specific ways to care for and regulate sea otter populations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t totally eliminate them. They have rules about who could hunt sea otters, how many, and where \u2014 that\u2019s a system that evolved over thousands of years,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
That balance was shattered when European fur traders arrived. They hunted sea otters almost to extinction for their prized fur, the densest and most luxurious in the animal kingdom, in a reversal from the previous era of harvests led by hereditary chiefs who held exclusive rights to the hunt. \u201cNot only did [European fur traders] wipe out sea otters, they disrupted the governance systems that Indigenous people had built. Indigenous management was replaced by Canadian management. That was a huge shift,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In the absence of sea otters, urchins thrived, mowing down the kelp forests that act as nurseries for innumerable coastal species, alongside other knock-on impacts.<\/p>\n
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In the late 1960s and early 70s, sea otters were reintroduced along the BC coast and their numbers soared. The media and textbooks celebrate this as a clear conservation success: \u201cAn endangered species brought back to life. Sea otters control sea urchin populations, kelp forests thrive, biodiversity grows. Everyone thinks it\u2019s a win-win,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Burt said the reality is more complicated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe return of sea otters is not a success story for everybody,\u201d she said. \u201cSea otters recovered without being managed in the traditional ways. Their numbers grew uncontrolled.\u201d<\/p>\n
On parts of northern and western Vancouver Island, sea otters are \u201cat carrying capacity,\u201d meaning the population is at the maximum level the environment can sustain with signs like less well-fed pups and increased natural mortality. \u201cThey have eaten up their food supply,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Alongside First Nations communities, geoduck and sea urchin fishers all along the BC coast are also impacted by the return of sea otters.<\/p>\n
Mike Featherstone, president of the Pacific Urchin Harvesters Association, said the change has been swift and devastating for harvesters. Areas that once produced more than a million pounds of sea urchins a year are barren within two seasons of otters moving in.<\/p>\n
Once they establish themselves, commercial harvests collapse. \u201cThey\u2019re very efficient at wiping out sea urchins,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Along the Central Coast of BC, the return and expansion of sea otters has led to closures of commercial shellfish fisheries. “Eventually there won\u2019t be any fishing if they continue to expand,\u201d Featherstone said.<\/p>\n
Grant Dovey, executive director of the Underwater Harvesters Association, said sea otters are steadily eroding the geoduck fishery as well. The association\u2019s internal data, which goes back to 1976, shows that by 2023, roughly 15 per cent of commercial geoduck biomass had been affected by otter predation, a number that is continuing to rise. <\/p>\n
Dovey said commercial fishing areas have been shrinking significantly, with the fleet now focused mainly around Tofino and Barkley Sound because sea otters have pushed them out of traditional harvesting grounds further north. “We are hopeful that once sea otters reach carrying capacity in particular areas there will still be a geoduck resource to harvest, but we are realistic. Some areas seem to co-exist; some areas don\u2019t,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Balancing culture and conservation <\/p>\n
Trites said sea otters can be polarizing: on one side, people see them as \u201ccute\u201d and charming animals; on the other, they are viewed as menaces destroying access to shellfish. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure there\u2019s really a middle ground, but perhaps one way forward is for Indigenous communities to reflect on how their ancestors managed hunting in the past,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Sea otter harvesting was historically restricted and governed by ceremonial protocols. The pelts were used for ceremonial purposes and conveyed social status \u2014 not for mass consumption or commercial sale \u2014 until the advent of Western and Asian demand. The harvest remained limited, with a priority on ensuring people had enough food to sustain themselves, he said.<\/p>\n
Alteo said sea otter population levels remain a pressing concern for their communities. <\/p>\n
“There needs to be some level of harvesting now, because there\u2019s just way too many \u2014 it\u2019s an imbalance,” he said.<\/p>\n
He criticized the current management and said it has \u201cno plan\u201d and that policies have failed to recognize the harms of uncontrolled sea otter population growth on traditional food sources. The community members have not been compensated for the loss of seafood that has \u201cgone on for over 40 years.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cOur people are suffering because of it,\u201d he said. Sea otters \u201ceat voraciously\u201d and have multiplied beyond what Indigenous stewardship would allow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe newcomers don\u2019t understand this,\u201d Alteo said. \u201cThey don\u2019t realize the impact it has on our food chain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shifting baselines <\/p>\n
Trites said he is skeptical of claims of sea otter \u201coverpopulation,\u201d noting the species is still recovering. \u201cNumbers remain at about 15 per cent of their historic levels,\u201d he said. He said it remains a \u201cshifting baseline\u201d where people\u2019s sense of what is normal changes over time.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople grew up in a time when sea otters were virtually gone, so the ocean without them became the accepted norm.\u201d Despite the ecological ripple effects, more otters also meant more urchins; more clams; more geoducks. Trites added that their \u201crecolonization\u201d is often seen as a threat, even though it represents a return to a more natural ecosystem.<\/p>\n
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