Volume 7 Pages 1 - 43 (February 1992)

Citation: VanBlaricom, G. (1992) Third Joint United States - USSR Conference on Sea Otters IUCN Otter Spec. Group Bull. 7: 35

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Third Joint United States - USSR Conference on Sea Otters

Glenn VanBlaricom

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Institute of Natural Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Ca 95064, USA.

The Conference was held September 10 through 13, 1991, at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy on the Kamchatka Penninsula, Russia. This biennial meeting is organised under the auspices of the Marine Mammal Project, U.S. - U.S.S.R. Environmental Protection Agreement. The meeting was co-chaired by LA. Popov of the Soviet side and G.R. VanBlaricom of the U.S. side. Six American delegates joined approximately twenty Soviet delegates to hear twenty-four contributed presentations on population distribution and dynamics, behaviour, foraging ecology, community ecology, pathology, conservation, and management of sea otters in U.S. and Soviet waters.

A principal focus of the conference as a coincident series of mass mortalities of sea otters in Soviet waters, observed during the 1990-91 winter. Die-offs were reported for the Commander Islands, the southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, and the Kuril Islands. The most dramatic event occurred at Bering Island in the Commander group, where the populations of sea otters apparently lost between 1000 and 2000 individuals (one-quarter to one-third of the previous number). A definitive cause has not been identified. Principal hypotheses include shortfalls in food supply and a possible environmental contaminant. Discussions of the issue did not produce a consensus.

Presentations on other subjects produced animated discussions among the delegates, as well. There was substantial interest in the following topics:

• Improvement of techniques for large-scale enumeration of sea otter populations;
• Harvest of sea otters by Native Americans in Alaska;
• The translocation of sea otters to new locations in California, and consideration of management alternatives for sea otters in the U.S.;
• Foraging ecology of sea otters throughout the North Pacific;
• Patterns of tooth wear in Soviet sea otter populations;
• Status and growth characteristics of sea otter populations in the Kuril Islands, along the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, in the Commander Islands, in Alaska, and in California;
• Variation among individuals in patterns of foraging and maternal care in California sea otters;
• Discovery of recurrent cardiac pathologies in U.S. sea otter populations;
• Modification of nearshore benthic communities by foraging sea otters in California and in the Commander Islands.

The climax of the conference was an excellent excursion by helicopter along the southeastern shore of Kamchatka. Delegates were able to observe sea otters, killer whales, northern sea lions, and sea birds in coastal waters. Many examples of geothermal and volcanic activity were seen in the Kamchatka wilderness. During the return trip to the U.S., American delegates were able to visit the Natural History Museum at Khabarovsk. The Museum features a complete skeleton of the extinct Steller's sea cow.

Delegates agreed to recommend that the next conference be held in Alaska in 1993. Delegates also favoured a proposal to encourage participation by scientists from all "sea otter nations" (Mexico, U.S., Canada, U.S.S.R., and Japan), and from other nations as well, at the 1993 meeting. Additional information on the proposal will be provided in future issues of the Bulletin.

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