Could sea otters thrive in San Francisco Bay? Not if great white sharks get their way

The endangered sea otter population could migrate north and return to San Francisco Bay but they have one big obstacle: great white sharks swimming near the Golden Gate Bridge.

“We call it ‘the gauntlet,’ ” Brent Hughes, an assistant professor of biology at Sonoma State University, said in a statement to the school’s news site. “Otters really can’t get past the gauntlet.”

A study from Sonoma State says the sea otter population could triple from around 3,000 to 10,000 if they were reintroduced to San Francisco Bay.

“It would essentially end up lifting the sea otter out of its endangered species status,” Hughes said. “For the conservation of the sea otter, this would be huge.”

Reintroducing otters inside San Francisco Bay and away from where the great whites swim means they likely could thrive there, according to the study.

Sea otters used to live in San Francisco Bay but were driven to near extinction by the fur trade during the 18th and 19th centuries, according to the study. The global population also reduced from between 150,000 and 300,000 to around 2,000.

In 1914, around 50 sea otters were found near the Big Sur coast. That total grew to more than 3,000 in 2018.

This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 7:27 AM with the headline "Could sea otters thrive in San Francisco Bay? Not if great white sharks get their way."