Mission

Friends of the Sea Otter is dedicated to the protection of sea otters and their habitat throughout their North Pacific Range with emphasis on the Southern Sea Otter, a rare and threatened species found along the California coast. By supplying information, coordinating protection efforts, providing education and fostering advocacy, FSO, founded in 1968, maintains its position as the world's oldest organization dedicated to sea otter preservation.

What We Do

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.

Currently, Friends of the Sea Otter (FSO) has more than 4,000 members world-wide. As the nucleus of the organization, they enable us to accomplish the many programs and activities necessary to protect the otter and its habitat. Through their membership dues and contributions we are one step closer to ensuring that otters throughout their range never face the the threat of extinction again.