https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyYH4KBHKU4&t=5s
For at least 10,000 years, sea otters were an important part of the culture of the people along Oregon’s coast.
Sea otter bones are commonly found in middens (layers of discarded animal bone, shells, and other artifacts from ancient human occupation) along the coast alongside the remains of fish, shellfish, seals, sea lions, birds, and other animals.
Starting in the mid 1700s Sea Otters were aggressively hunted for their valuable pelts. By 1810 they were scarce on the Oregon coast and gone completely by the early 1900s.
Sea otters have a profound effect on the kelp forests they inhabit because of their taste for the fatty, caloric-rich reproductive organ (dubbed uni) of sea urchins. These spiny, pin-cushion animals come in several colors and sizes and are surprisingly mobile, hunting and feeding on kelp and other macroalgae. By eating them, sea otters keep sea urchin numbers in check, thereby protecting and enabling kelp forests and the life that depends on them to flourish.
Elakha is a Chinook word for Sea Otter. The Elakha Alliance (https://www.elakhaalliance.org ), is a nonprofit formed in 2018 by tribal leaders and conservationists, who have commissioned a study by six biologists on the feasibility of reintroducing sea otters to the Oregon coast. The organization envisions re-establishment of the species in the state within the next 50 years.
The Elakha Alliance video, “The Cultural Significance of Sea Otters” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyYH4KBHKU4&t=5s) is a beautiful and moving presentation on the importance of this animal to the Pacific Northwest Marine ecosystem. The Elakha web site contains more information on this topic and the work underway to bring sea otters back.
