Sea Otter

Robi Smith
Mixed media on wood panel
24" x 36"
$2500

Once abundant along the BC Coast, sea otters were hunted almost to extinction in the 1800s for their amazingly dense pelts (up to 1 million hairs per square inch). Sea otters are the natural predator for spiny sea urchins, which, left to their own devices, spent the last 150 years mowing down kelp beds. Now that sea otters are being successfully reintroduced on the west coast of Vancouver Island, kelp forests are returning. With the kelp come myriad other species that rely on them for habitat and food, including copper rockfish, lingcod and salmon.