Marine Otter (Lontra felina) and coastal biodiversity:  preliminary testing of the use of the Marine Otter as an umbrella species 

Introduction 

The marine otter or sea cat (Lontra felina) is the smallest otter species in the world, and is currently considered “Endangered” by different national and international environmental agencies.  This species lives exclusively in marine habitats and is distributed along the South Pacific coast from Peru to the Magellan Strait.  Although marine otters flourished along the Chilean coast, since the 1900s the population has been decreasing severely, mainly due to illegal hunting and habitat alteration.   

In Chile, during the last five years, governmental agencies have been developing efforts to design a network of marine reserves.  However this largely involves the use of an umbrella species approach under a pre-supposed basis and few attempts to actually demonstrate the assumption have been made.  This could have considerable negative effects on the efficiency of marine biodiversity protection and future reserve management.

The use of shortcuts to protect biodiversity is usually used in conservation practices to minimise expenditures and efforts.  In this sense, the use of an umbrella species seems to be a good approach and this concept has been proposed as a tool to help the management of wide natural communities by focusing on large-bodied or wide-ranging species.   

An umbrella species could be defined as “a species whose conservation confers protection to a large number of naturally co-occurring species”.  The concept could certainly be a useful tool especially during the planning process for a reserve. 

This project, is part of the marine otter conservation programme.  It will contribute information about the efficacy of this species to serve as an umbrella species, considering it a useful umbrella only if a significant biodiversity and habitat could be protected when the efforts are focused on otter conservation.  Thus, the results will help in the design process of marine reserves and also help conservationist and governmental agencies to take better decisions based on scientifically acquired information.  Also, the information will improve the conservation action plan for the marine otter. 

Aims 

Main aim:  To assess if the marine otter could be an efficient umbrella species as defined above. 

Specific aims: 

Study area

Three study sites have been selected near Valdivia City in the central south of Chile.  Each site shows different otter densities but have similar human impact.  The coastal topography is basically composed of rocky shores and sandy beaches, but the study sites are all different types of rocky shores.   

Methodology 

The methods are based on direct observation for population density monitoring.  These observations are done by three observers and two volunteers from the park guards of the Valdivian Coastal Reserve.   

Coastal biodiversity assessment is focused on the composition and density (when possible) of macro-invertebrates (crabs, shellfish, cnidarians and marine sponges), vertebrates (fish and birds) and macro-algae.   

Habitat assessment is divided into terrestrial habitat and aquatic habitat.  For the terrestrial, variables such as type and size of rocks, presence of intertidal pools, exposure, distance to vegetation, number of small bays and funnels are registered.  For the aquatic habitat, bottom type (sandy, rocky, mixed), presence and number of offshore rocks and depth are registered.  Both terrestrial and aquatic habitat will be mapped, thus a profile map of terrestrial habitat and bathymetric map will be produced. 

Project Outputs 

Personnel 

Dr Claudio Delgado-Rodriguez, Marine Otter Project Director, Conservacíon Marina, Independencia 644 Of 2, Segundo Piso, Valdivia, Chile 

Budget 

Local Travel                                                     £  600

Field equipment                                                £  900

Public awareness materials                                £  400

TOTAL                                                           £1,900