Sea Otter Foundation & Trust

The mission of the Sea Otter Foundation & Trust is Ensuring the survival and recovery of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) in their habitats by building funds to support research, conservation and education.

We are proud to be the only nonprofit organization giving grant dollars directly to sea otter biologists and conservation initiatives dedicated to this endangered species.  We are 100% volunteer-based, so donations received go directly into our granting fund or to support our environmental education programs throughout the United States.  

Annually, we issue grants to sea otter researchers, conservation, and educational initiatives.  You can visit our website and YouTube channel to see our grantees hard at work helping sea otters.  

Our most recent awards have included the following:

• Elkhorn Slough Foundation – Reserve Otter Monitoring Program (ROMP): The grant award funds the purchase of iPads to streamline data collection for sea otter monitoring in Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve
• Kansas City Zoo: In 2023, the Kansas City Zoo is opening a new state-of-the-art aquarium that will feature sea otters in the Rocky Shore Cold Coastline Zone. Grant is funding transportation crates as well as the necessary equipment to care for the new sea otters coming to the facility.
• Oregon State University: Funding supported the work of Master’s student Laura Geissinger who is investigating sea otter foraging behavior along Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.  Geissinger is specifically examining whether razor clams are part of the sea otter diet in that locale.
• Seattle Aquarium: Research award supports the study by Dr. Zachary Randell to better understand the biological processes—such as the role of keystone sea otter predation—that provide resilience to Washington’s coastal ecosystems.  Funding purchased a BlueROV2 and we have funded the continuation of his research to conduct a myriad of dives with the ROV and obtain substantial imagery of the benthos.
• University of California: Santa Cruz: Funding supports Dr. Terrie Williams, Lilian Carswell and Michelle Staedler and others who will be commencing a multi-year study regarding sea otter habitat use, stressors, and social structures in an estuarine population (specifically Elkhorn Slough). One of the main objectives of the first year of this study is to obtain information that will inform sea otter reintroduction planning.
• University of Alaska: Fairbanks: Funding supports two research projects:
  • • Ph.D. candidate Carter Johnson is investigating interactions sea otters are having with Dungeness crab in southeast Alaska.
    • Brenda Konar is examining sea otter use of oyster farms in Kachemak Bay Alaska

Some of the past awardees have included the Alaska SeaLife Center, Elkhorn Slough Foundation OtterCams, The Marine Mammal Center, NOAA’s Team OCEAN, Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon Wild, Oregon Zoo Foundation, SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation & Research, Graduate students from Sonoma State University, Stanford University, University of California Davis & University of California Santa Cruz.