Sea otters have long path to recovery here

Published 2:38 pm Sunday, February 22, 2026

The last sighting of sea otters in the lower 48 states before their re-introduction in 1969 was reported by the Willapa Harbor Pilot and in a June 1913, Chinook Observer article:

“The first otter seen on the North Beach [the official geographical name of what is now commonly called the Long Beach Peninsula] for five years was sighted off Willapa Harbor Sunday by a crab fisherman. Seven of the otters appeared.

“Three of them were killed and one was a ‘silver-tip,’ eight feet in length, with a pelt valued at $1,200.” (In 2026, $1,200 from 1913 is now worth approximately $39,287.) Sea otters were hunted to local extinction because of being highly prized for their fur, particularly in China.

March 2009 was the next time there was a confirmed living sea otter sighting in the vicinity of Willapa Bay. This sighting was described in a story written by Washington State Park Ranger Julie Tennis and Chinook Observer staff that was published March 16, 2009.

Dead sea otters have been found on Pacific County beaches in recent years, but are believed by experts to have drifted down the coast from a population established in the vicinity of Destruction Island off the Olympic Peninsula coast.

Sea otters are a much larger animal than the river otters common in local waters.

See https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00314 for Washington state’s sea otter recovery plan.