Southern Sea Otter Populations: The Monterey Bay Aquarium

1911, Southern sea otters swam on every coast near the Pacific, Including the Sea of Japan. They lived in large kelp forests near shores and would usually stay on the surface of the water only diving when food was necessary. Being the most important part of the food chain, sea otters kept anything that would eat the seaweed like snails, and sea urchin populations in check so the kelp forests wouldn 't die out. Southern sea otter populations near the west were unknown, but the American east coast has around “15,000 otters through 1911 to 1928 and growth kept going”(The Monterey Bay Aquarium). Even though Sea otter population was growing by the thousands each year, at this time, many hunters caught the sight of free game just floating at the

Otter populations begin to dwindle every year by the hundreds due to lack of them already. By this time only around 50 otters escaped the slaughtering by moving south to the remote Sur coast. Which they stayed there with populations rising into the thousands and brought down by a poor environment and overhunting to the hundreds once again. But the Monterey Bay Aquarium from 1911 to 2014 is still working on healing the otter population back to the way it was. Southern sea otters were put on the national fur seal treaty for protection and were no longer hunted to the brink of extinction. Their aquarium helps many different species rehabilitate in their aquariums until they are ready to go back into the ocean and fill their niche in the environment. By nursing otters back to health and having them released back into the wild has helped the population stay in the thousands, “they 've slowly expanded their range and grown in number to nearly 3,000. As of 2014.” (Monterey Bay Aquarium: Sea Otter Article). The aquarium while also helping wildlife gain a healthy state on earth, they also of course, run an aquarium for people to view the animals in their

It wasn 't till 1977 the idea of an aquarium was brought up, Monterey Bay was hosting a ton of conservation programs all around the world to help save sea creatures from the brink of extinction with different types of whales, smaller sea mammals like cetaceans, certain fish and a bunch of other species. Monterey Bay will have a bright future ahead of itself with all of its parts because it 's not just one charity, it 's also an aquarium to entertain crowds and inform them on why we should keep the oceans the way they are now. By showing people the wonders of the oceans with their amazing attractions, the Monterey Bay aquarium will definitely have some minor issues to fix, but overall the charity will have a bright future ahead of