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Mariah Charleson gathering purple sea urchins along the Hesquiaht coastline.<\/p>\nHalf\u00a0a\u00a0century ago,\u00a0sea\u00a0otters 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\u00a0a\u00a0symbol of one of the conservation\u2019s greatest comebacks. But with their return has come an unexpected reckoning, leading some\u00a0First\u00a0Nations\u00a0to ask\u00a0for\u00a0the return of hunting \u2014\u00a0a\u00a0practice that has been outlawed\u00a0for\u00a0generations.<\/p>\n
Mariah Charleson, the 37-year-old chief councillor of Hesquiaht\u00a0First\u00a0Nation, 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\u00a0sea\u00a0otters consume the same clams, crabs and other marine species that Hesquiaht families have relied on\u00a0for\u00a0generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cA\u00a0child now wouldn\u2019t grow up seeing any of that. When I was\u00a0a\u00a0child, that was part of daily life. Now, it\u2019s no longer possible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mariah Charleson gathering purple sea urchins along the Hesquiaht coastline.<\/p>\n
Sea\u00a0otters consume roughly\u00a0a\u00a0third 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\u00a0a\u00a0regulated\u00a0sea\u00a0otter\u00a0hunt\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a\u00a0way\u00a0for\u00a0communities to reclaim stewardship and balance ecological and cultural needs.<\/p>\n
Sea\u00a0otter\u00a0harvesting was\u00a0a\u00a0tightly regulated practice among Indigenous communities, said Cliff Alteo, an elder from the Ahousaht\u00a0First\u00a0Nation. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t about destroying\u00a0a\u00a0population or anything like that. It was about managing and protecting\u00a0a\u00a0food chain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Historically, the communities carefully managed harvest zones by killing\u00a0sea\u00a0otters and anchoring their bodies around the urchin beds. \u201cIt was\u00a0a\u00a0sign to the other\u00a0sea\u00a0otters to stay out of that area,\u201d Charleson said. \u201cThat\u2019s something that our ancestors would have done.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is currently no authorized harvest of\u00a0sea\u00a0otters, including\u00a0for\u00a0food, social or ceremonial purposes. Charleson said they had asked DFO directly what information they had on\u00a0sea\u00a0otter\u00a0numbers and on the species they feed on in their territories. \u201cDFO doesn\u2019t have any of that data,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re missing\u00a0a\u00a0really 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\u00a0Canada\u2019s National Observer,\u00a0a\u00a0spokesperson\u00a0for\u00a0the DFO saidthat the department is aware some\u00a0First\u00a0Nations\u00a0are interested in harvesting the species and that it\u2019s working with experts to update and collect\u00a0sea\u00a0otter\u00a0population data.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0recovery\u00a0of\u00a0sea\u00a0otters is hailed as\u00a0a\u00a0conservation success story but\u00a0for\u00a0coastal Indigenous communities, they are unraveling the lifeblood of traditional shellfish harvests, pitting the protection of\u00a0a\u00a0species against the preservation of\u00a0a\u00a0way of life.<\/p>\n
Shellfish vs\u00a0sea\u00a0otters<\/p>\n
Andrew Trites, director of Marine Mammal Research Unit and professor of Institute\u00a0for\u00a0the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia, said\u00a0sea\u00a0otters are among the most \u201cinfluential predators\u201d in coastal ecosystems.\u00a0Sea\u00a0otters eat large numbers of\u00a0sea\u00a0urchins, which otherwise would overgraze kelp, protecting and allowing kelp forests to thrive. They also dig up clams, turning over the seabed \u201cmuch like\u00a0a\u00a0farmer would turn over soil.\u201d<\/p>\n
While they are important\u00a0for\u00a0the ecosystem\u2019s health, their feeding drastically reduces shellfish species that hold cultural and economic importance\u00a0for\u00a0many\u00a0First\u00a0Nations\u00a0communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cSea\u00a0otters love to eat everything that humans love to eat,\u201d said Jenn Burt,\u00a0a\u00a0marine ecologist and BC marine program lead at Nature United. \u201cWherever\u00a0sea\u00a0otters are, the things that we love to eat typically aren\u2019t. Crabs, clams,\u00a0sea\u00a0urchins, most shellfish get very heavily depleted where\u00a0sea\u00a0otters are.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But instead of being seen as pests or competitors,\u00a0sea\u00a0otters held\u00a0a\u00a0special place, she said.\u00a0<\/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\u00a0for\u00a0millennia. Burt described this as\u00a0a\u00a0system marked by \u201creally complex management and governance systems in place.\u201d Indigenous communities developed specific ways to care\u00a0for\u00a0and regulate\u00a0sea\u00a0otter\u00a0populations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t totally eliminate them. They have rules about who could\u00a0hunt\u00a0sea\u00a0otters, how many, and where \u2014 that\u2019s\u00a0a\u00a0system that evolved over thousands of years,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That balance was shattered when European fur traders arrived. They hunted\u00a0sea\u00a0otters almost to extinction\u00a0for\u00a0their prized fur, the densest and most luxurious in the animal kingdom, in\u00a0a\u00a0reversal from the previous era of harvests led by hereditary chiefs who held exclusive rights to the\u00a0hunt. \u201cNot only did [European fur traders] wipe out\u00a0sea\u00a0otters, they disrupted the governance systems that Indigenous people had built. Indigenous management was replaced by Canadian management. That was\u00a0a\u00a0huge shift,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In the absence of\u00a0sea\u00a0otters, urchins thrived, mowing down the kelp forests that act as nurseries\u00a0for\u00a0innumerable coastal species, alongside other knock-on impacts.<\/p>\n
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Northern sea otter feeding on a basket star near the Inian Islands, Alaska.<\/p>\n
In the late 1960s and early 70s,\u00a0sea\u00a0otters were reintroduced along the BC coast and their numbers soared. The media and textbooks celebrate this as\u00a0a\u00a0clear conservation success: \u201cAn endangered species brought back to life.\u00a0Sea\u00a0otters control\u00a0sea\u00a0urchin populations, kelp forests thrive, biodiversity grows. Everyone thinks it\u2019s\u00a0a\u00a0win-win,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Burt said the reality is more complicated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe return of\u00a0sea\u00a0otters is not\u00a0a\u00a0success story\u00a0for\u00a0everybody,\u201d she said. \u201cSea\u00a0otters recovered without being managed in the traditional ways. Their numbers grew uncontrolled.\u201d<\/p>\n
On parts of northern and western Vancouver Island,\u00a0sea\u00a0otters 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alongside\u00a0First\u00a0Nations\u00a0communities, geoduck and\u00a0sea\u00a0urchin fishers all along the BC coast are also impacted by the return of\u00a0sea\u00a0otters.<\/p>\n
Mike Featherstone, president of the Pacific Urchin Harvesters Association, said the change has been swift and devastating\u00a0for\u00a0harvesters. Areas that once produced more than\u00a0a\u00a0million pounds of\u00a0sea\u00a0urchins\u00a0a\u00a0year 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\u00a0sea\u00a0urchins,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Along the Central Coast of BC, the return and expansion of\u00a0sea\u00a0otters has led to closures of commercial shellfish fisheries. \u201cEventually 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\u00a0sea\u00a0otters 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\u00a0otter\u00a0predation,\u00a0a\u00a0number that is continuing to rise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dovey said commercial fishing areas have been shrinking significantly, with the fleet now focused mainly around Tofino and Barkley Sound because\u00a0sea\u00a0otters have pushed them out of traditional harvesting grounds further north. \u201cWe are hopeful that once\u00a0sea\u00a0otters reach carrying capacity in particular areas there will still be\u00a0a\u00a0geoduck resource to harvest, but we are realistic. Some areas seem to co-exist; some areas don\u2019t,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Balancing culture and conservation<\/p>\n
Trites said\u00a0sea\u00a0otters 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure there\u2019s really\u00a0a\u00a0middle ground, but perhaps one way forward is\u00a0for\u00a0Indigenous communities to reflect on how their ancestors managed hunting in the past,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sea\u00a0otter\u00a0harvesting was historically restricted and governed by ceremonial protocols. The pelts were used\u00a0for\u00a0ceremonial purposes and conveyed social status \u2014 not\u00a0for\u00a0mass consumption or commercial sale \u2014 until the advent of Western and Asian demand. The harvest remained limited, with\u00a0a\u00a0priority on ensuring people had enough food to sustain themselves, he said.<\/p>\n
Alteo said\u00a0sea\u00a0otter\u00a0population levels remain\u00a0a\u00a0pressing concern\u00a0for\u00a0their communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere needs to be some level of harvesting now, because there\u2019s just way too many \u2014 it\u2019s an imbalance,\u201d 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\u00a0sea\u00a0otter\u00a0population growth on traditional food sources. The community members have not been compensated\u00a0for\u00a0the loss of seafood that has \u201cgone on\u00a0for\u00a0over 40 years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur people are suffering because of it,\u201d he said.\u00a0Sea\u00a0otters \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\u00a0sea\u00a0otter\u00a0\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\u00a0a\u00a0\u201cshifting baseline\u201d where people\u2019s sense of what is normal changes over time.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople grew up in\u00a0a\u00a0time when\u00a0sea\u00a0otters 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\u00a0a\u00a0threat, even though it represents\u00a0a\u00a0return to\u00a0a\u00a0more natural ecosystem.<\/p>\n
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Northern sea otter with a pup near the Inian Islands, Alaska, August 24, 2025.<\/p>\n