Comment on FR Doc # 2011-28065

Dear U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I am writing to you today as a constituent of Friends of the Sea Otter to express my support for your preferred alternative (3c) to ending the southern sea otter Management Zone ("No-Otter Zone") and Translocation Program put in place by Public Law 99-625. In 2006, the public overwhelmingly supported your initial decision to end the No-Otter Zone. This letter to you is proof that the public still supports this decision. The Translocation Program and No-Otter Zone was initiated with the sole purpose of creating a reserve population of southern sea otters at San Nicolas Island in case an oil spill or other disaster seriously afflicted the narrow parent range. The theory was that the reserve population would be able to repopulate the parent range and save the species from extinction. However, since the Translocation Program was initiated nearly 24 years ago, less than 40 sea otters remain at San Nicolas Island - far less then what would be required to repopulate the parent range should a disaster occur. Since the Translocation Program has failed to create a viable reserve population, the southern sea otter must be allowed to confront this danger head on by naturally expanding its range. According to the 2010 census, the southern sea otter population is declining and you are tasked with the responsibility to reverse this trend and lead the species to recovery. You have found in the 2003 Revised Recovery Plan for the Southern Sea Otter and your own Biological Opinion that natural range expansion is imperative for the recovery of the southern sea otter. Furthermore, removing the few sea otters that do remain at San Nicolas Island would not be in the best interest of the species and would serve no purpose. Because your ultimate goal is the recovery of the southern sea otter species, I support your decision to end the No-Otter Zone without harming the San Nicolas population by adopting the preferred alternative (3c).