IUCN/SCC Otter Specialist Group Bulletin
© IUCN/SCC Otter Specialist Group

Volume 19 Issue 1 Pages 1 - 61 (April 2002)

Last Minute Notes
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The Otter Project is an NGO that focuses on the southern sea otter (aka California sea otter - Enhydra lutris). We are research oriented. We have just brought together 20 scientists (toxicologists, pathologists, epidemiologists, ecologists) from across the United States and Canada to discuss the impacts of chemical contaminants and disease on sea otters and other marine mammals. Within the month the conference report and recommendations will be up on our website. We have also supported research into the interaction between otters and fish traps, and longevity of sea otters in captivity. Please visit our website, www.otterproject.org. I'm hopelessly behind on updates, but I hope you'll find it useful.

Steve Shimek 
Executive Director 
The Otter Project 
3098 Stewart Court 
Marina, CA 93933 
831/883-4159 
exec@otterproject.org 
www.otterproject.org

Dear friends:
Finally, we have finished our web page of Otters from Mexico, which you can access at the following address: http://200.52.182.69/lontra/

I hope it will please you and above all be useful.

Thank you!
Dr. Juan-Pablo Gallo-Reynoso

ANNOUNCEMENT

One of the oldest French nuclear power stations (graphite-gas cooled reactor) has been in operation in central Brittany, NW France, from 1966 to 1985. Since 1985, operation stopped and the breaking up process started, which will continue over several decades. As part of this process, radio-ecological impact studies have been carried out by IPSN (Nuclear Safety & Protection Institute) on samples of sediment, plants and fish (BAUDIN-LAURENT, 1994). A new survey will be undertaken this year, 2002, with samples including top predators such as pike (Esox lucius) and otter (Lutra lutra). We have been asked to cooperate on this study and are now collecting otter spraint samples for measurement of radionuclides (γ-spectrometry).

To our knowledge, there is little available radioactivity data on otter spraints. Some research concerning otter tissues has been published in the USA for Lontra canadensis (HALBROOK and JENKINS, 1988), and in Finland (SKARÉN, 1988a,b), Austria (GUTLEB and MRAZ, 1991) and Belarus (SIDOROVICH et al., 1996) for Lutra lutra. In Britain, the radioactivity of otter scats has been measured by MASON and MACDONALD (1988) following the Chernobyl reactor accident. This study gives an interesting background for radioactivity levels in otter spraints at several sites from the British Isles but, before starting this new survey, we should like to complete, as far as possible, the background data of what can be considered a "background level" in both otter tissues and spraints. We would therefore be grateful to get copies of any paper, unpublished reports, or even raw data, etc, on this topic. Is or will anyone be carrying out such a survey elsewhere?

Lionel Lafontaine, LutrAtlantica, B.P. 1, 29670 Locquenolé, France. E-mail: lionel.lafontaine@wanadoo.fr

REFERENCES

Baudin-Laurent, Y. 1994. Bilan radioécologique aquatique de la Centrale EL4 des Monts d'Arrée.IPSN/DPEI/SERE, report 94/041,22pp.
Gutleb, A., Mraz G. 1991. Caesium-137 levels in otters from Austria. IUCN OSG Bull. 6, 9-11.
Mason, C.F., Macdonald S.M. 1988. Radioactivity in otter scats in Britain following the Chernobyl reactor accident. Water, Air Soil Poll. 37, 131-137.
Sidorovich, V., Savchenko V., Denisova A. 1996. Heavy metals, organochlorine pesticides, PCBs and radionuclides in otters and their habitats in Belarus. In: Seminar on the conservation of the European Otter, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, 7-11 June 1994. Ed. Council of Europe, Environmental Encounters 24, 134-141.
Skarén, U. 1988a. Otter studies in Finland. IUCN OSG Bull. 3,2-4.
Skarén, U. 1988b. Chlorinated hydrocarbons, PCBs and caesium isotopes in otters (Lutra lutra) from Central Finland. Ann. Zool. Fenn. 25, 271-276.

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