Alaska Otters Get Habitat Protection October 15. 2009
It looks like the sea otters in Alaska are getting help from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
From the AP: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated nearly 5,900 square miles as critical habitat for sea otters in the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea and Alaska Peninsula. The designated area includes all nearshore waters.
"Critical habitat has a proven record of aiding the recovery of endangered species," said Rebecca Noblin, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed two lawsuits and engaged in years of litigation to get the animals protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. The otters in southwest Alaska were listed as threatened in 2005.
"This has been a long time coming," she said.
Critical habitat gives the sea otters — the smallest of marine mammals — a "fighting chance of recovery," she said.
Click here to read more at the Associated Press
