Environmental groups are applauding a court ruling which they say will help protect sea otters off our coastline.
The Southern Sea Otter population is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.
In the 1980’s, federal agencies tried to establish an otter colony on San Nicholas Island, and in exchange with fishing interests, created a no-otter zone from Southern Santa Barbara County to the Mexican border.
The colony failed, and environmental groups pushed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to end the no-otter zones, so they could repopulate their original habitat. Fishing groups challenged the decision in court, but this month, a U.S. District Court judge upheld the agency’s decision.
There’s still another legal challenge to the decision that’s up in the air in the court system.
