Sea Otter Nation Foundation

Sea Otter Nation's intentions are to:  1. Help clean up the near shore area along the West Coast of the United States, starting with the California Central Coast; 2. Remove/greatly reduce the human caused waste and trash within 1-2 miles of the shore; 3. Rebuild the near shore habitat and ecosystem to greater assist and support the sea otter's recovery and strengthen its population.

COMMUNITY ACTION
To assist with sea otter recovery, particularly within California's Central Coast, there needs to be a focus on habitat restoration in collaboration with the various environmental and conservation groups in the region. With this in mind, the following projects are being targeted:

1. Starting with the Monterey Bay area and in collaboration with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, establish an annual ocean cleanup of the near shore (within two miles) to remove all the human-caused garbage and trash littering the ocean floor as well as floating debris.
 
2. This includes establishing a "Ghostbusters" program of removing so called 'ghost nets' that many marine mammals get caught up in or ingest. Per The Marine Mammal Center, one sperm whale is known to have ingested 450 pounds of discarded fish netting. (They have a display of it at their Sausalito, CA center.)
 
3. Establish a barrier on the ocean floor to reduce and prevent ocean current deposits of more debris within this near shore zone, as well as help accumulate this ocean trash for future cleanup efforts.
 
4. Establish sea farms to grow both kelp to reforest and expand kelp beds and prey species that are native and have been historically present in the region and the region's kelp forests.
 
The intention is to re-build the ecosystem, thus providing and expanding the sea otter's natural food sources. More food will support more sea otters. In addition, working in collaboration with local fisheries will support their industry and reduce the perceived competition threat.

HOSPITAL / RECOVERY CENTER
Develop a centralized sea otter exclusive hospital / recovery and research center in collaboration with the various Monterey Bay sea otter conservation groups.

BOOK AND DVD PRODUCTION
A 208-page book and 60 minute DVD is being produced to document, dramatize and educate the general public on sea otter history, and their importance to the marine and land ecosystems as a Keystone Species. It is also designed to build a stronger human allegiance in accelerating the sea otters' support and recovery efforts.