The Otters Ate All the Sunshine

There is a myth going around Southeast Alaska that ever since the sea otters became a protected species, they have been eating all the crab. This is mainly propagated by commercial crab fishermen. The otters have made a remarkable comeback from near extinction. But to me it looks like the commercial crab fisheries are more likely to have wiped out all of the formerly abundant dungeness crab population. Every inch of coastline that might have crab is dotted with crab pot buoys.

Michele was chatting with some salty old fellas about the otters in Petersburg. "But they are just so dang cute!", she said to them. "Yep, that's the trouble with them...", he grumbled, agreeing... "They're cute."

We have started playing with the propaganda and now use the otters as scapegoats for everything. No whale sightings today - the otters ate all the whales. Haven't caught a salmon - it's the otters. It has been raining for a week and a half...