How are sea otters listed under the Endangered Species Act?
The southern sea otter is listed as “threatened.” If the population decline continues, this listing could be changed to “endangered.” The northern sea otter, which consists of sub-populations in Alaska, Canada and Washington, isnt listed as a whole subspecies. The different sub-populations have different status classifications. Currently there is no federal or state Endangered Species Act listing for Alaska and Canada. There are petitions and threatened lawsuits to force U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list certain otter populations in the central Aleutian chain in Alaska. Washington has listed the sea otter as endangered.
