Home > Lifestyle News > Sea otters popular with visitors but headache for fishermen in Nemuro
June 17 2010
Sea otters popular with visitors but headache for fishermen in Nemuro
NEMURO —
Tourists and ordinary local residents in Nemuro in eastern Hokkaido love to watch a sea otter float on its back and crack open a clam with a stone on the stomach.
But the marine mammal is a source of headache for fishermen in Nemuro and is even threatening their livelihood.
The fishermen say sea otters in the Sea of Okhotsk have ruined three of seven fishing grounds eating about 18 tons of sea urchins and causing a loss of about 31 million yen.
They went there at the start of the sea urchin catching season in early March and learned that shells were empty in an underwater check. Experts concluded from the marks of teeth and the way the shells were broken that sea urchins were devoured by sea otters.
Sea otters attract children and adults for their peculiar but charming swimming and eating style but they are big eaters devouring about 12 kilograms of sea urchins and crab a day.
Speaking about the heavy loss from the marine mammal, cooperative counselor Satoshi Moriyama said, ‘‘This is the first time that we suffered that much loss in the 40 years we have been fishing.’’ The damage accounts for more than 10% of the annual catch.
A sea otter was found in the Kushiro River in Kushiro in February last year, quickly bringing city residents, tourists and photo enthusiasts to the river. It was named ‘‘Kuchan’’ but disappeared in May.
A sea otter which looked very much like Kuchan was seen later off Cape Nossapu with several others, attracting onlookers armed with cameras. Officials of the Nemuro Tourist Information office were among those who said the mammals produced an ‘‘unimaginable economic effect.’‘
Norihisa Kondo, chief curator of the Nemuro City Museum of History and Nature, said he believes the sea otters came to the Kushiro River and Cape Nossapu to look for food. The cape is located only several kilometers from the cooperative’s fishing grounds.
Sea otters themselves were victims of fur hunting more than 100 years ago but are now protected by law. Their catch is banned, making it impossible for the fishery cooperative to force them out of fishing grounds. The Environment Ministry says they are endangered species.
The cooperative petitioned the Hokkaido prefectural government for help in late March while the Nemuro municipality set up an ad hoc council on April 26 to discuss measures to prevent damage.
Tourist information office officials say the absence of see otters will ‘‘hurt’’ the local tourism.
‘‘We cannot remain calm thinking whether sea otters are eating sea urchins,’’ Moriyama said. ‘‘It’s unreasonable that only the fishermen have to endure the status quo.’’
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