May 13, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Colombia: Politics: Congress: Conservation: Environment: Oceans: Wildlife: Santa Cruz Sentinel: Sam Farr, D-Carmel introduced legislation to organize sea otter research and programs to bring the sea otter’s numbers up to sustainable levels
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Colombia:
Special Report: Sam Farr:
Sam Farr: Archived Stories:
May 13, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Colombia: Politics: Congress: Conservation: Environment: Oceans: Wildlife: Santa Cruz Sentinel: Sam Farr, D-Carmel introduced legislation to organize sea otter research and programs to bring the sea otter’s numbers up to sustainable levels
Sam Farr, D-Carmel introduced legislation to organize sea otter research and programs to bring the sea otter’s numbers up to sustainable levels
Sam Farr, D-Carmel introduced legislation to organize sea otter research and programs to bring the sea otter’s numbers up to sustainable levels
Farr’s save-the-otter bill gets new life
By SORAYA GUTIERREZ
Sentinel staff writer
The California sea otter population may be getting another boost toward recovery.
A bill by U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, to organize sea otter research and programs to bring the sea otter’s numbers up to sustainable levels was reintroduced in Congress on Thursday.
The Southern Sea Otter Recovery and Research Act seeks funding for federal sea otter population recovery programs to help remove the species from the Endangered Species Act list.
Farr spokeswoman Jessica Schafer said that in order to be removed from the endangered list, the number of sea otters concentrated along the Central Coast must reach 3,100, a number she believes is attainable. Scientists estimate there are currently 2,800 sea otters in the area.
Southern sea otters were hunted to near extinction along the West Coast during the 18th and 19th centuries, due mostly to the desirably of their soft pelts, and were listed as a threatened species in 1977.
"Sea otters are a California icon that both attracts tens of thousands of visitors to coastal California, and play a critical ecological role in maintaining our unique kelp-bed communities," Farr said in a news release.
Fishing and sea otter groups collaborating in the effort are Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Sea Otter, The Humane Society of the United States, The Ocean Conservancy and Sea Otter Defense Initiative, a project of Earth Island Institute.
Advertisement
Jim Curland, marine program associate for Defenders of Wildlife, said this collaboration among groups will go a long way toward getting the bill passed.
"We’ve got to increase scientific research into the threats facing sea otters if we want to understand what is happening to the California sea otter population. That’s how we’ll get the sea otter back on the road to recovery," Curland said.
Although the bill has gained some sponsors, Curland said it is essential to gain more support from California Republicans. He believes that backing from a segment of the fishing community will be key in moving the bill forward.
Farr originally introduced the legislation in December 2003. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service implemented a federal recovery plan that same year.
Contact Soraya Gutierrez at sgutierrez@santacruzsentinel.com.
When this story was posted in May 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today. |
| Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Colombia; Politics; Congress; Conservation; Environment; Oceans; Wildlife
PCOL20296
89
.