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Islanders warned about sea otters

Mark King grew up in Cordova, Alaska, hearing stories about sea otters, but never seeing any. The fur-bearing marine mammals were almost extinct after 150 years of intense hunting, and had rarely been seen since the early years of the 20th century.
His father once found a dead sea otter and brought it into town. Almost everyone turned out to have a look.
"He had it mounted and put into the museum, that's how rare it was," Mr. King said.
At that time, people in Cordova, at the head of Prince William Sound, about a thousand miles north of Masset, enjoyed a plentiful crab fishery, catching a million pounds of Dungeness crabs every fall, as well as two other kinds of crab. They also dug various clam species, and harvested other shellfish.
In the late 1960s, sea otters began to make a comeback. Scientists transplanted otters from the Aleutian Islands to new homes in southeast Alaska, Vancouver Island, Washington, Oregon and California, re-establishing their former range; other remnant populations in the Aleutians and Prince William Sound began to bounce back.
Soon, fishermen from Cordova were seeing otters in the outer waters of Prince William Sound. Then one day in 1970, otters appeared in Orca Inlet, right in front of the village. The playful creatures feasted on crab, clams, urchins and abalone. At first the villagers were astonished - but they soon became alarmed.
"The otters were eating eight Dungeness crab an hour, and they would eat all day," Mr. King said. "Today, we have no Dungeness fishery, no clams... You can't even find a Dungeness pot in the whole town."
Mr. King spoke to a small group of islanders in Masset Thursday night (Jan. 9), explaining how the resurgence of the otters has had some devastating effects on his people, and what they're doing about it. He's a board member of the Alaska Sea Otter and Steller Sea Lion Commission, the native-run organization that protects native hunting rights and conducts extensive research on sea otter and sea lion populations.
Islanders also heard from sea otter commission executive director Lianna Jack, and vice-chair Dolly Garza of Ketchikan, who warned that it's only a matter of time before the otters re-colonize Haida Gwaii.
"We've heard from several people that people have seen sea otters here," Ms Garza said. "Once they come, they won't go away."
For some in the audience, the discussion offered a whole new view of sea otters, remote from their image as plush endangered animals with endearing human qualities, clever tool users and devoted parents. Others were well aware of the menace the otters could be to Haida Gwaii's abundant shellfish.
"I already told you, I'm going to shoot every one of them... I'll kill the bastards, cause I don't want to see us looking for a clam to eat or a crab to eat," said Tom Adams, who said he's heard all about the trouble otters have caused on the west coast of Vancouver Island.