ya otter not a done it

I love learning about links in nature.  If anyone wants a repeat of how overfishing kills lions let me know, glad to tell it.  Here a story about otters and much more.

After WWII, whaling almost destroyed the baleen whale population. Killer whales lived off this species, so they had to find a new food.  In succession they turned to eating, and soon decimated, harbor seals, next fur seals, then to Steller sea lions, finally, now, they are going after the little sea otter as well.  Along the west coast of North America the otter has been eaten down from several hundred thousand to a few thousand.  Oh, that's sad.  But so what?

Sea Otters eat sea urchins.  Sea Urchins eat kelp.  Without otters some areas are losing the kelp forests, the urchins are eating them clear.  Kelp, like trees do to the air, it absorbs CO2 from the water, storing it for years and some small amounts get put into the sea bed.  Overhunting of the baleen whale caused a cascade that is ending in loss of CO2 absorption in the ocean when we really need it, and loss of habitat for all kinds of fish which you might need to eat.  It's not the killer whale's fault.  Hopefully the whale population will rebound, there are actually groups out there trying to restart kelp fields and move otters in to guard them.  It's really a long shot.  How can people deny we humans are changing the planet, climate, fauna?  It's right there to see.  Recycle something damn it, walk somewhere.