Human Interactions:
- The behaviour and interactions of the sea otter are still not completely understood. Like many human beings the each sea otter has its own distinct personality. Sea Otters differ in their reactions to humans, some otters are wary, some are brave, some are playful and some love human interaction.
Human Impacts:
- Otters that live near areas of dense human inhabitation often exhibit much higher concentrations of persistent organic pollutants in their tissues than otters from more pristine locations.
- Pathogens and pollutants flow from the shore into the ocean, and cause the most problems where these two worlds meet at harbors, river mouths, and bays. With more than half of the U.S. population living in coastal areas, the near shore environment is one of the most heavily impacted parts of the ocean. Clusters of sea otter deaths tend to occur around areas of high human population
- over fishing of the food that otter need to survive
- Fishing nets are another cause of sea otter deaths. Sea otters become caught in the nets and drown. Laws have been passed to limit the use of fishing nets along the coastline. This has helped some sea otter populations.
- oil spills
Climate Change Impacts:
- Killer whales have been reported as feeding on sea otters since their prey of choice, sea lions and harbor seals, have followed changes in fish migration patterns and moved out of the killer whales' habitat range.
- the increased temperature will impact the amounts of food available in the sea otters habitat