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Defenders of Wildlife Urges Public Opposition to NOAA’s Planned Review That Could Weaken California’s Authority to Protect its Coastline
NOAA will review California's Coastal Management Program following a directive from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Defenders of Wildlife urges public participation in upcoming public meetings to protect California's coast, wildlife, and state authority.
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Trump Proposal Puts America’s Most Vulnerable and Valuable Coastal Resources in the Crosshairs
Protected areas across United States coasts are in the sights of a new oil and gas drilling proposal released on Thursday by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
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Defenders Offers Reward for Information on Sea Otter Poaching
The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed that a federally protected sea otter was illegally tortured and killed in February 2025. Both FWS and Defenders
More Sea Otter Press Releases
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Report on Expert Opinion Confirms Southern Sea Otter Remains Threatened with Extinction and in Need of Full Protection
Today, Friends of the Sea Otter (FSO) released the report, Roadmap: Recovery of the Southern Sea Otter.
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New Research Details Economic Benefits of Sea Otters
A new study published in Science this month describes a predictive model that assesses the economic and ecological benefits of healthy sea otter populations.
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Supreme Court Halts Effort to Reinstate Failed “No Otter Zone” in California
The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to review a Ninth Circuit decision that upheld the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s termination of a failed experimental program known as the “No Otter Zone.” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had determined the program would harm the California sea otter by excluding the animals from their historic range along the Southern California coast.
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Caution Needed Over Latest Survey Results of the Southern Sea Otter Population
According to the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) 2018 spring survey of the southern sea otter population published today, sea otter numbers have declined off the coast of California since peaking in 2016, but the average population count remains above 3,090 for the third consecutive year.
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Court Calls Third Strike on Industry Challenges to Decision to End Failed Otter Translocation and “No Otter Zone” Program
Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld two District Court decisions to end a failed government program known as the “No Otter Zone.” The
jcovey@defenders.org
