Assessing anthropogenic risk to sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) for reintroduction into San Francisco Bay.

ABSTRACT: Southern sea otters have been actively managed for their conservation and recovery since listing on the federal Endangered Species Act in 1977. Still, they remain constrained to a geographically small area on the central coast of California relative to their former coast-wide range, with population numbers far below those of the estimated optimal sustainable population size. Species managers have discussed reintroducing southern sea otters into parts of their historic range to facilitate sustained population growth and geographic range expansion. San Francisco Bay (SFB), historically home to several thousand sea otters, is one location identified as a candidate release site for these reintroductions. The return of sea otters to SFB could bring benefits to local ecosystem restoration and to

SUBMITTER: Rudebusch J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7678461 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature