Photo/Illutration Sea otters bobbing on the sea surface off Cape Tofutsu in Hamanaka, Hokkaido. This photo was taken with a telephotographic lens on May 31. (Takayuki Kakuno)

Wild sea otters are no longer such a rare sight along the eastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island.

Experts reckon there are now more than 50 of the endangered marine mammals living there.

But this has given rise to a new problem: Thoughtless tourists operating drones close to sea otter herds to get a closer look, scaring them so they head back out to sea; one time for about six months.

Kaoru Hattori, an expert of marine mammalogy who works for the Fisheries Resources Institute of the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, said the otters currently in residence are mainly in around coastal areas from Nemuro to Kushiro town, a distance of 100 kilometers as the crow flies.

Sea otter numbers in the northern Pacific Ocean are thought to have ranged from around 150,000 to 300,000 up until the 18th century. But overhunting for their pelts brought the number down to around 2,000 by the early 20th century.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources ranks sea otters as endangered on its Red List.

Thanks to conservation activities, sea otter populations have increased to about 130,000 across the Northern Pacific Ocean since the 2000s.

A survey by Russian researchers found that numbers have grown rapidly in the Habomai islets, which are part of the disputed Northern Territories off the coast of Hokkaido that are also claimed by Russia.

As numbers increase in Northern Territory islands, so do they along the eastern coast of Hokkaido.

“The sea otters currently seen off the coast of eastern Hokkaido came from the Habomai islets with their young to seek out new feeding areas,” Hattori said.

TOURISM THREAT

Cape Tofutsu in Hamanaka, Hokkaido, also known as Kiritappu, faces the Pacific Ocean and sea otters are often spotted there, too.

Sightings include newborns from the spring swimming on the sea surface with their mothers.

Etopirika Foundation, a local nonprofit organization, is doing research into ways to protect the sea animals.

Yoshihiro Kataoka, who heads the organization, says that more than 10 sea otters can be seen around the cape, even from a promenade.

“Although sea otters are on the red list, there is luckily an environment where the sea otters can coexist with tourists,” Kataoka said.

With growing numbers of people visiting to see sea otters in the wild, a new menace has emerged over the use of drones to get a closer look.

The drones are operated by tourists from the cape.

When the drones approach a herd of sea otters, they all flee to the water in a panic.

The coastal area around the Cape Tofutsu in Hamanaka and those of neighboring municipalities were designated as a quasi-national park in 2021.

At the same time, the town of Hamanaka installed a signboard exhorting tourists to refrain from flying drones in the area.

However, tourists intent on taking video footage of the sea otters are still coming in droves.

One sea otter was so spooked that it took half a year for it to return. Just before it disappeared, drones were flying overhead.

Kataoka said he saw three people operating drones from the cape during consecutive holidays in May alone.

He explained what efforts are in place to protect the creatures and asked the visitors to stop flying drones, which they did, saying they didn’t notice the signboard.

So, Kataoka changed the characters and colors of the signboard to make them stand out more. 

“If people come too close to the sea otters, they might take off and leave their young even though they need to take care of them,” Hattori said. “So, tourists need to keep a distance from them and observe them with just warm feelings.”

(This article was written by Tomoyuki Yamamoto and Morikazu Kogen.)

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