Annual California sea otter census - 2019 spring census summary

The spring 2019 mainland sea otter count began on May 1 and was completed by July 9. Overall viewing conditions this year were very good, better than those encountered during the 2018 spring census (View Score = 3.0 this year compared to 2.4 last year, where 0=poor, 1=fair, 2=good, 3=very good, and 4=excellent). The surface canopies of kelp (predominantly Macrocystis pyrifera) were qualitatively noted by observers to be much less than the seasonal normal in the central portions of the range (from Monterey to Cayucos) and about normal near both ends of the range. Sea otters along the mainland coast were surveyed from Pigeon Point in San Mateo County in the north, to Santa Barbara Harbor in Santa Barbara County in the south. A separate, ground-based survey of the sea otter population at San Nicolas Island was completed earlier in the spring (April 19 - 23) under good-very good survey viewing conditions (View Score = 2.5). Macrocystis canopies at San Nicolas Island were estimated to be below normal for the time of year. These data support the following U.S. Geological Survey Data Series:

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
bureauCode {010:12}
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catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
datagov_dedupe_retained 20220722114234
identifier USGS:5d83c013e4b0c4f70d06c9c0
metadata_type geospatial
modified 20200830
old-spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-122.4232, 34.3902], [-122.4232, 37.2010], [ -120.2678, 37.2010], [ -120.2678, 34.3902], [-122.4232, 34.3902]]]}
publisher U.S. Geological Survey
publisher_hierarchy Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 980403614df87aca16d0639b203cccee110d785a
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-122.4232, 34.3902], [-122.4232, 37.2010], [ -120.2678, 37.2010], [ -120.2678, 34.3902], [-122.4232, 34.3902]]]}
theme {geospatial}
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • aerial-counts
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • biogeography
  • biota
  • california
  • central-california-coastal
  • ckan
  • distribution
  • environment
  • geo
  • geoss
  • mammals
  • national
  • north-america
  • ocean
  • range
  • sea-otter-census
  • sea-otters
  • shore-counts
  • southern-california-coastal
  • united-states
  • usgs-5d83c013e4b0c4f70d06c9c0
isopen False
license_id notspecified
license_title License not specified
maintainer Julie L Yee
maintainer_email julie_yee@usgs.gov
metadata_created 2025-11-20T12:43:55.340735
metadata_modified 2025-11-20T12:43:55.340740
notes The spring 2019 mainland sea otter count began on May 1 and was completed by July 9. Overall viewing conditions this year were very good, better than those encountered during the 2018 spring census (View Score = 3.0 this year compared to 2.4 last year, where 0=poor, 1=fair, 2=good, 3=very good, and 4=excellent). The surface canopies of kelp (predominantly Macrocystis pyrifera) were qualitatively noted by observers to be much less than the seasonal normal in the central portions of the range (from Monterey to Cayucos) and about normal near both ends of the range. Sea otters along the mainland coast were surveyed from Pigeon Point in San Mateo County in the north, to Santa Barbara Harbor in Santa Barbara County in the south. A separate, ground-based survey of the sea otter population at San Nicolas Island was completed earlier in the spring (April 19 - 23) under good-very good survey viewing conditions (View Score = 2.5). Macrocystis canopies at San Nicolas Island were estimated to be below normal for the time of year. These data support the following U.S. Geological Survey Data Series:
num_resources 2
num_tags 23
title Annual California sea otter census - 2019 spring census summary