http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2020608,00.html?xid=rss-topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Google+ReaderBy Matt Kettmann - Time Magazine: September 25, 2010
Summary:
The California sea otter is slowly disappearing, for reasons unknown. In the early 19th century, the species was severely endangered because of fur trade. In spite of this, the sea otter made a comeback in 1939. Now the species is endangered once again, but scientists cannot determine one specific reason why. There are many different reasons including food shortages, low genetic diversity, increased shark attacks and human causes such as fishermen accidentally catching them and dirty runoff. Scientists are worried that since California sea otters are the most researched marine mammals in the world and they can't figure out how to help them, most endangered animals are doomed.
Opinion:
This issue is very interesting to me because it seems to describe many if not all endangered species. Scientists can't seem to find the direct source of the problem and even if they can, they cannot determine how to help the species. California sea otters seem to have a lot to battle against. There are many factors in their endangerment. Regulations on fishermen should be put into place so that sea otters are not captured and killed by accident any longer. Also, efforts should be made to spread out the otter population because at this point, it is very easy to eliminate all the otters with one disaster. This issue reminds me of the oil spill because they are very informed about the issue, but they cannot fix the problem. Both the otter endangerment and oil spill issues are currently being battled. I believe this is a very important issue and it needs to be taken care of swiftly, just like all other endangered animal issues need to be a priority.
Questions:
1. Why do you think it is so hard for scientists to take care of the issue if they are so informed on California sea otters?
2. Do you think the sea otters will survive if they continue down the same path?
3. What can be done to save the California sea otters?
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteWhen I read Kiersten's summary and saw the picture I was actually really sad! Sea otters are not only cute but they are very important for us. The fact that they are the most researched marine mammals in the world is very dangerous. Most endangered species will be doomed if we can't figure out why sea otters are disappearing. There should be a major effort into finding the reason why these otters are disappearing. We must make precautions so that there are no more accidental sea otter killings. I agree with Kiersten that this problem is very similar to the oil spill. Our government needs to take quick action on this before it is too late.
Questions:
1. How do you think our government can help keep the sea otters safe?
2. Do you think that the scientists will eventually figure out how to help them? Why or why not?
3. What do you think is more important: the oil spill or the sea otters disappearance?
I too find this article very interesting. If there is no source of the otters' disapperance, how're supposed to help them? It's like saying you have an itch but don't know where. You can't go scratching your whole body everywhere just to find that one itch. While I agree with several of Kiersten's, I find some of her ideas inaccurate. For one, you can't just decide to catch one species and not the other. As long as they both inhabit the same area, you're bound to find both of them in your net. It's either go big or go home. Also, with matters considering the oil spill, despite how much oil is being let out, it would take a while for all of it to reach the coasts of California, plus the water from the Gulf of Mexico travels a completely different way. On top of all that, it's time everyone realized how bad of a shape this Earth is in. Extinction rate's rosen exponentially, numerous species are endangered and climates are changing overnight. That's only to address some of the problems we've caused. The California Otter should be taken into special consideration, along with the many other endangered species out there.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to question 3:
That's a very difficult question. As stated in Kiersten's article, there is no clear source of the otters' disappearence. Maybe if we stopped fishing in the otters' territory we could identify some other causes responsible to the otters' endangerment. Also, it could cut down on the disapperance rate. But until we take that step, I don't really see anything major we can do.
Opinion: I also found this article to be very interesting. California Sea Otters truly are amazing species and if we were to lose them to a reason that we don't even know would be very tragic. I do however think that if we don't know what is killing them off, how would our government be able to "swiftly fix this problem" like Melissa and Kiersten said. I mean sure we could not fish in their areas, but this could not even be the problem. We would just have to keep trying each option until we found the right thing, which could take a while. I think that this issue will only enlighten us on species' extinction. We should take into consideration that we could be responsible for this species possible extinction. At the rate we're going at, we could end up responsible for a lot more than one species extinction. Our species needs to understand that this is just the tip of the iceberg and it will get a lot worse if we keep going down this path.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to number 3: I'm not very sure if there is anything that we can do to save the Sea Otters. If we don't know what is causing their disappearances, then how can we save them from what is killing them. Like Insung said, it's like saying that you have an itch, but you don't know where it is. Unless we find out what is causing the disappearances , there may be nothing we can do to save the otters and we would have to continue on life without them.
I also believe that this artice is very interesting. I think it is wierd how scientists do not know how this is happening. Our government should be helping to find out what is happening to the otters. Despite our economy, we can't go around pretending stuff like this doesnt happen. Even before this, there have been many species endangered due to human activity. The otters just add to the list. We should really watch out on what we do. If we keep this up, all of the animals, even very common ones such as robins will go extinct.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to question 2:
If we keep going down this path, there will be no room for the otters' survival. I know that fishing is important to the economy and coastal inhabitants but the animals aren't something we can ignore. No matter how bad the economy will be, how important money is, the animals should always be first priority.