State Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, has introduced a bill to authorize the Department of Fish and Game to pay a $100 bounty for each sea otter taken lawfully under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Now why would anyone want to kill our cute and furry friends the sea otters?
Because they're rapidly recolonizing Southeast Alaska waters, consuming mass quantities of commercially harvested species such as Dungeness crab, urchins, clams and sea cucumbers.
McDowell Group, a Juneau consulting firm, in 2011 issued a study on the problem.
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21 comments:
As necessary as this might seem to be, no one outside of Alaska will support it. Another great move, kill sea otter to help fishermen. How much for sperm whales, sea lions, seals, eagles, anything else that competes for seafood, should there be a bounty on those too? This bill will pass if it was 1950.
It's about time, the sea otter population is getting out of hand around Kodiak also. It's not just about commercially valuable species being wiped out, ask the locals about their traditional clamming spots. I have always felt there should regulated hunting for these critters, not just by the Natives.
Hope this goes through.l
There used to be a great dungeness fishery in Orca inlet in front of Cordova, and there was plenty of razor clams, until the sea otter population exploded, then there was no more crabs or clams. They eat 3 times thier body weight in one day.
Alasaka Natives can already hunt whenever they want, and sell the skins to other natives, or make hats and stuff to sell to white people for way more than $100.
Think they're going to go hunting for less?
Under the terms of the Marine Mammal protection Act they'd have to utilize the animal after hunting it. It looks to me like the State seeks only to verify the hunters success and give them $100 for gas.
Maybe it's time to revisit the Marine Mammal Act. Otter has such nice fur and they deserve more than a $100 bounty.
What a waste of the legislature's time. Stedman introduces a bill that on its face will go no where and is unenforceable. Marine mammals are under the jurisdiction of the federal govt. This is just grandstanding by a state senator who is in the back pocket of the commercial fishing sector. Who is to say that clams or crabs are more valuable to the the people of alaska than Sea Otters. If someone wanted to allow the harvest of Sea Otters on a limited basis, they should go to our congressional delegation in D.C. Sure the Sea Otters eat a lot of crabs and clams. But the real culprit is the over harvesting by the commercial fleet over a period of many years. Is it the Sea Otter that wiped out the dungy in Yakutat, or almost in Kodiak? Not hardly! It is OVER FISHING that causes the problem. The same thing has been occurring in lower SEAK outside of Ketchikan. Stedman's bill should be reason number one to get someone to replace him at the next opportunity.
Like over harvest of the S.E. King Crab last year?
We need to put Stedman and a Sea Otter in a room together and see who survives.
Ever catch one, and bring it on deck?
Learning how to spell deckboss then comes quickly.
I think deck boss should report what fish and wildlife said to a state committee yesterday. that with more otters they are eating the critters that eat kelp so now there is more kelp and what does more kelp do? it helps slow global warming. so we have lots of fisherman who have bought into the whole global warming mother earth garbage. so do they want help on this. if you take the feds thinking before the russians wiped out the otters there must have been no crabs, gooey ducks, clams, sea cucumbers,etc so now were just getting back to a the former natural state. i see some fishermen now being sacrificed on the alter of enviromentalism. of course we could go to washington with pitch forks and demand to fix this but not enough people are suffering yet i guess mike svenson sitka
How about a bounty on Humpback whales? They are eating the herring stocks in PWS and in SEAK, in particular the juvenile herring. They need to be culled.
Ecosystem management. We can't effectively manage herring, crab or salmon without also taking into account what they eat and what eats them.
Just because they're mammals doesn't mean we should allow their populations to grow unchecked. The populations of both whales and sea otters are growing rapidly. Should we allow them to continue expanding until they collapse or intervene and try to maintain a sustainable population while creating food and jobs?
We already have much to large of a impact on the oceans to think that we can just allow some species populations to grow exponentially just because they are cute and fury. If we are managing herring and salmon stocks then we are already managing whales.
@6:12am: it might not have been the sea otters that wiped out the crab in yakutat or P.W.S but what do you think is the largest factor keeping those stocks from recovering?
Lets just harvest all the urchins because they eat the kelp. That way the sea otters won't have a place to live, then they will all go down to California. Problem solved.
12:02 you mean lets "not" harvest Urchins.
I'll offer a $100 bounty on tax and spend dumocrats.
One of the guys responisible for the reintroduction of Sea Otters to SE Alaska lives in Gustavus. He claims that it was the worst thing he has done in his life. I would have to agree, as there are no longer any dungeness crab within skiff distance of Gustavus. Try to jig up a halibut around here... All you will catch are empty clam shells.
What a goofy idea Stedman,the only thing goofier is your goofy mustache.
First commenter: who gives a shit what people outside of Alaska think?
I think this a great idea. For the fourth poster, I think the idea is that the hunyuks can still make stuff from the hides, they just get an ADDITIONAL $100 per animal from the state.
This isn't goofy, it isn't a waste of time. It is an ACTUAL statesman doing the right thing. I know, its a real aberration in our legislature to have a member of the republican party doing something that will benefit all Alaskans.
Sean Parnell, who is rapidly becoming the worst governor this state has ever seen, has stood back, put his hands in the air and said he is unable to do anything about otters. Same guy sued the the very same federal agency that manages otters over polar habitat because it would hinder oil and mining interests. Why couldn't this bible thumping oil money whore do the same for the fishing industry? Because he is everything we should despise in a politician. He's a lawyer, he is a past employee of a major oil producer in our state, and he has an obvious agenda, which is to bilk Alaskans out of our oil resource revenues.
So is the idea behind this bill to give the natives more incentive or is it just to get attention from the federal govt?
Those sea otters are so darn cute. It's definitely a success story to bring them back from the brink and now it's time to manage them so we can live in peace with them occupying our harbors.
"Field preemption". Look it up, Senator.
5:06 I give a shit about what people outside of Alaska think. They outnumber you, you might want to wake up, it isn't 1950. And outsiders control Alaska, not Alaskans. Alaskans just facilitate everything.
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