Friends of the Sea Otter [FSO] is an advocacy group dedicated to actively working with state and federal agencies to maintain the current protections for sea otters as well as to increase and broaden these preservation efforts. We wish to inspire the public at large about the otters` unique behavior and habitat.



During the fur trade of the 18th and 19th centuries, southern sea otters were hunted to near extinction. Today only about 2,200 otters can be found off California`s central coast. Since January 1977, US Fish and Wildlife Service has placed sea otters on the Endangered Species list so they are protected by state and federal laws.