Sea Otters Can Be Money Makers, But Not Everyone Benefits

Sea otter populations are rebounding in the eastern North Pacific. There, they devour huge quantities of shellfish and other marine critters that people like to eat, too. But any commercial losses to fisheries are far outweighed by economic benefits associated with the otters, according to a new study.

The analysis, published in the journal Science, suggests that when sea otters return to their historic habitats, they fundamentally alter the ecosystem and produce financial gains that are potentially more than seven times greater than the costs.

The trouble is, "these costs and benefits are not going to be distributed equally across fisheries or communities," says , an ecologist with the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia