The Otter Project’s Top 2023 Achievements
2023 was an otter success! The Otter Project made strong progress toward healthier waters and habitats for sea otters this year, and set the stage for a successful 2024 and beyond. Here are some of the things we are most proud of this year:
Nominated the first new ocean water quality protections in 50 years to protect sea otters along the Central Coast. Currently, only about a third of the state’s marine protected areas are safeguarded from pollution through water quality protections. This year, The Otter Project worked to develop new protections for the Point Sur MPA to prevent pollution from harming the sea otter and its coastal habitat. This process will provide a roadmap to the state to provide all marine protected areas with water quality protections, so that these critical ocean ‘hope spots’ can do their job without the threat of pollution.
Challenged the Central Coast Agricultural Order to prevent toxic runoff into sea otters’ critical habitat. The Salinas Valley, recognized as the "Salad Bowl of America,” produces 80% of all the leafy greens and strawberries found in supermarkets nationwide. Unfortunately, this has turned 55% of the region’s waters into highly toxic drains for agricultural pesticides and nutrients that flow directly into sea otter habitat. The Otter Project, along with rural Latino community and farmworker groups, environmental organizations, and commercial and recreational fishing organizations, filed a lawsuit against the Water Boards’ September decision to strike down measures to control extensive pesticide and nitrate pollution along the Central Coast of California – because the sea otter, our environment, and our communities deserve better.
Supported the development of an Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Policy for California. The ocean plays a fundamental role in mitigating climate change by absorbing a significant portion of global carbon emissions. But as a result, the ocean is becoming more acidic, a condition that often co-occurs with depleted oxygen levels, or hypoxia, due to warmer surface waters. Ocean acidification and hypoxia have enormous implications on the health and productivity of marine ecosystems and the communities and industries that depend on them. From corroding the shells and skeletons of marine organisms to disrupting normal fish behaviors, changes in ocean chemistry have the potential to alter the food sources and ecosystems that sea otters rely upon. Making matters worse, recent science has demonstrated that localized ocean acidification and hypoxia dead zones are occurring due to the discharge of nutrients from land-based pollution. The Otter Project is working with the state to develop an Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Policy to require the removal of nutrients from wastewater facilities before being discharged to the ocean to prevent ocean acidification and hypoxia dead zones from exacerbating the impacts of climate change.