To understand the relationship between the two, Estes needed to find an area that was devoid of otters and see what the kelp forests looked like. In Alaskan kelp reefs, otter populations help to keep sea urchin populations in check. … Air Date: Week of November 27, 2020 stream/download this segment as an MP3 file. He found that about 350 kilometres to the west of Amchitka, off a remote island called Shemya. The biggest problem in California is that the southern sea otter population can’t seem to expand its range. Estes’s observations revealed an “extraordinarily high” sea otter population around Amchitka, inhabiting a lush undersea world of kelp forests. The last wild sea otter in Oregon was reported killed in 1906. Just four years later, in 1910, the last wild sea otter in Washington was killed. A study of sea otter restoration in British Columbia is giving encouragement to a group that wants to bring sea otters back to the Oregon Coast. 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