This is from the book Humboldt Bay by George Davidson, the famous (to me) west coast geographer. He is a key figure in some of my history research and
I've learned to give his accuracy a lot of credit. He claims to have discovered Humboldt Bay while on assignment with the US Coast Survey, and wrote
the first Pacific Coast Pilot among many more credits. Here he quotes Russian history from 1803.
[Edited on 7-13-2013 by vgabndo]
Osprey - 7-13-2013 at 07:18 AM
Great stuff. Thanks. In my research for stories and novels I learned that abalone shells around the La Paz area are now used to show the travel of
work groups from the Pacific to SOC --- then and now, SOC is too warm for abalone so it follows that the report might be better stated "Sea Otters
found in the Eastern Pacific". I'll do some more digging because now that I think of it I don't know all the things sea otters eat and I'll be damned
if I know how they pry edibles from sea bottom rocks without a spatula.chuckie - 7-13-2013 at 08:12 AM
We watched sea otters in the river at Mulege a long time back before the floods scoured it. they are a beautiful critter to watch....seemed friendly
toomulegejim - 7-13-2013 at 10:04 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by chuckie
We watched sea otters in the river at Mulege a long time back before the floods scoured it. they are a beautiful critter to watch....seemed friendly
too
Chuckie, how long ago did you see sea otters in the river at Mulege....I don't think anyone else has seen them - I certainly haven't. Jimchuckie - 7-13-2013 at 10:17 AM
My best guess would be about 25 years ago..The mangroves were still thick, and there seemed to be a resident pair hanging around about where the road
goes up to Don Chanos now....And there were some pretty good sized Iguanas , several used to live around La Fortuna...mulegejim - 7-13-2013 at 11:18 AM
Chuckle, sure they weren't muskrats....used to be a few in the river but I haven't noticed them since the last series of floods over the last 8 years
or so. Sea Otters would have been very hot in their fur coats during the summer in Mulege. Jim
[Edited on 7-13-2013 by mulegejim]Baja Bucko - 7-13-2013 at 12:08 PM
I believe the Sea Otter has been extinct in Baja California for over 150 years...................mulegejim - 7-13-2013 at 01:15 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Baja Bucko
I believe the Sea Otter has been extinct in Baja California for over 150 years...................
Maybe longer than that in the Mulege river.chuckie - 7-13-2013 at 02:13 PM
Okey dokey....vgabndo - 7-13-2013 at 02:28 PM
I didn't want to be first to jump on Chuckie, but I will pile on. Of the three types of Sea Otters, the Southern would be the only possible
sub-species which could get close to 26 degrees south, and I can find nothing to suggest that the Gulf coast would be an appropriate habitat. They are
fond of kelp forests and the foods that grow there. A River Otter is a slight possibility, but if others have seen muskrats there in the Mulege River,
I'd be betting on them. A Sea Otter male will be close to four feet long. Pretty easy to tell from a muskrat. Both River Otters and Muscrats leave
distinct traces on the shoreline. Sea Otters generally do not.
At that, it appears that Sea Otters weren't extinct in Baja until around about 100 years ago.woody with a view - 7-13-2013 at 02:41 PM
there are beavers in the Colorado River near Yuma (both types!) so maybe they made their way down to Mulege back in the day for a little RnR....
[Edited on 7-13-2013 by woody with a view]vgabndo - 7-13-2013 at 03:04 PM
Woody...next time we talk....
I have a story about the Sixties, Yuma, summer heat and insects, the Colorado River, ill-advised psychedelics and beavers.
Not appropriate for general audiences.woody with a view - 7-13-2013 at 03:05 PM
i'm standing by.....mulegejim - 7-13-2013 at 04:22 PM
"At that, it appears that Sea Otters weren't extinct in Baja until around about 100 years ago."
I assume they were all on the Pacific side of Baja.David K - 7-13-2013 at 06:11 PM
There is writings about sea otters in mission papers... so, yes in Baja's Pacific coast to the 1800's.
Here is what Wikipedia has to say:
The sea otter population is thought to have once been 150,000 to 300,000,[7] stretching in an arc across the North Pacific from northern Japan
to the central Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. The fur trade that began in the 1740s reduced the sea otter's numbers to an estimated 1,000 to
2,000 members in 13 colonies. In about two-thirds of its former range, the species is at varying levels of recovery, with high population densities in
some areas and threatened populations in others. Sea otters currently have stable populations in parts of the Russian east coast, Alaska, British
Columbia, Washington, and California, with reports of recolonizations in Mexico and Japan.[87] Population estimates made between 2004 and 2007 give a
worldwide total of approximately 107,000 sea otters.
and more, from Wiki:
By 1817, sea otters in the area were practically eliminated and the Russians sought permission from the Spanish and the Mexican governments to
hunt further and further south of San Francisco.[13] In 1824, Russian-American Fur Company agent and writer Kiril Timofeevich Khlebnikov contracted
with Captain John Cooper to take several of their hunting baidarkas on his trading schooner Rover along with Aleut hunters to hunt sea otter as far
south as the 30th parallel on the Baja California peninsula.[14] The Russians maintained a sealing station in the Farallon Islands from 1812 to 1840,
taking 1,200 to 1,500 fur seals annually, though American ships had already exploited the islandswoody with a view - 7-13-2013 at 06:33 PM
humans suck sometimes......Islandbuilder - 7-13-2013 at 10:11 PM
If the animal you're seeing has a tail, it is probably either a muskrat or a river otter.
Sea Otters are the ones that spend most of their time floating on their backs, and holding their favorite shell breaking rock on the bellies.
Interesting to read that their former range extended as far south as mid-Baja!
They are rapidly expanding into their former territories along the Pacific Coast. I saw more of them in Glacier Bay this spring than ever, and in
places miles further up-bay than has been documented since the formation of the park. I am also seeing them pioneering further east along the
panhandle, out of the ocean coast bays where they were re-introduced about 20 years ago.
As they move into areas with commercial crab fisheries, they are (I believe) being eliminated by fishers to protect their livelihoods. I hope I'm
wrong about that, but I keep seeing solo animals in the Stephen's Passage area, never a pair. Sea Otters are very social, and also are prolific
breeders. In the last 5 years, one otter should have become 50, but so far it looks like its still just one.
They have no insulating fat layer, instead using their incredibly dense coat to stay warm in the high 40's water here in SE Alaska. Hence their value
as fur bearers.chuckie - 7-14-2013 at 02:16 AM
Uh? We are NOT "seeing them"..We SAW a pair many years ago. The similarity of a sea otter to a muskrat is about the same as Hilary Clinton is to
Penelope Cruz.....My brother didnt believe in "Sasquatch" either till he married her.....David K - 7-14-2013 at 07:46 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by chuckie
Uh? We are NOT "seeing them"..We SAW a pair many years ago. The similarity of a sea otter to a muskrat is about the same as Hilary Clinton is to
Penelope Cruz.....My brother didnt believe in "Sasquatch" either till he married her.....
55steve - 7-14-2013 at 08:14 AM
There are definitely sea otters off the San Diego coast - I have seen perhaps a dozen in the 50 years I've been fishing the kelp beds. I'm thinking
they probably are as far south as Cedros based on the cooler water that pushes up against the coast.monoloco - 7-14-2013 at 08:38 AM
Better hope they don't get too big of a foothold, those little buggers are hell on abalone beds.KaceyJ - 7-14-2013 at 08:42 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by chuckie
Uh? We are NOT "seeing them"..We SAW a pair many years ago. The similarity of a sea otter to a muskrat is about the same as Hilary Clinton is to
Penelope Cruz.....My brother didnt believe in "Sasquatch" either till he married her.....
That's funny right there.
I would guess Sea Otters have a range approximately equal to the range of abalone or some other abundant shellfish since it is their primary food.
They might be cute to some but I'd rather see stacks of abs in the rocks than these critters. They will clean them out wherever they become
established.
I wonder if the Baja Coops will tolerate them as they spread?Islandbuilder - 7-14-2013 at 09:24 AM
It is my experience that people use the name "Sea Otter" for both land (or river) otters and true Sea Otters. They also blend Sea Lions and Harbor
Seals into one species.
I agree with Chuckie, Ms. Cruz is a distinct type, and should be noted as such.
It certainly makes sense that the range of Sea Otters and Abalone should coincide. And that makes the otters of great concern to the coops. As I said,
I think that the expansion of otters ranges in Alaska is being limited by fishers, I can easily imagine the same thing happening along the coast of
Baja.
