The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public input about the possibility of reintroducing southern sea otters, a threatened species, to estuaries along the Northern California and Oregon coast. One of three otter subspecies, southern sea otters once thrived along the coast, but hunters seeking their fur nearly wiped them out in the 1800s. Last year, at the request of Congress, the Fish and Wildlife Service studied the possibility of reintroducing the species and concluded that it was both biologically feasible and could bring benefits for the marine ecosystem. Because reintroduction could also have unforeseen impacts on some nearby fisheries, the service is holding a series of public meetings to discuss the idea with community members before deciding whether to move forward. To survive in the ocean, sea otters depend on the protection and camouflage offered by kelp forests. Yet kelp forests along the Northern California coast have been decimated in recent years due to warming waters caused by a marine heat wave and a disease that wiped out sea stars. Sea stars were the primary predator of purple sea urchins, which consume kelp. As the urchin population surged and the kelp forests disappeared, otters became more vulnerable to attacks from white sharks. Strategically reintroducing otters in estuaries could contribute to the restoration of kelp, the service found. Over time, the reintroduced estuary populations of sea otters could merge, leading to a lasting rebound in the species. Otters have been successfully reintroduced about 100 miles south of Point Reyes National Seashore, at the Elkhorn Slough. A few bold males occasionally venture as far as Tomales Bay, but their female counterparts don’t forsake the safety of the slough. “The goal is that these estuary reintroductions will merge as otters begin to restore the kelp between the sites and ultimately allow safe passage between and expansion beyond the sites,” said Gordon Bennett, an Inverness environmentalist who is organizing a group to study the potential economic impacts of reintroduction in Tomales Bay. Mr. Bennett said previous studies have shown that, overall, sea otters benefit fisheries, even though their diet includes Dungeness crab and oysters. A Monterey Bay study showed that their presence improved crab habitat so much that the crab population grew. And oyster operations in Morro Bay have coexisted with southern sea otters, Mr. Bennett said. The group he is starting—Sea Otters Marin—will investigate potential local impacts, first on oyster farming, then on Dungeness crab. For information about Sea Otters Marin, send an email to [email protected]. A workshop on sea otter reintroduction presented by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service takes place from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 27, in the Red Barn Classroom at Point Reyes National Seashore headquarters.