Elizabeth River “Otter Spotters” wanted as national program arrives in Norfolk

Megan Isadore, co-founder of the River Otter Ecology Project, led a nature walk to Plum Point Park in Norfolk on March 23. The group reached a dock – a popular spot for evidence, if not sightings, of their favorite critter. Some combed through the sand of the coast, others scoured the quay.

Finally they found something. It was otter poop, or poop. While it wasn’t exactly the cute creature everyone was hoping for, they were excited that they were on the right track.

In collaboration with the Elizabeth River Project, the River Otter Ecology Project and Fieldscope, a nonprofit data analytics organization, Otter Spotter is a community science program, imported from the West Coast, to improve otter populations in one of the most ecologically endangered to assess Norfolk’s waterways. Participation is public.

Isadore started the program in 2012 in San Francisco, where river otters were believed to have been exterminated. The animal had largely disappeared from the area, initially due to fur trapping and then due to pollution and habitat loss. But Isadore wasn’t convinced they were gone, so she asked the public to map locations where the public saw or photographed otters. The resulting data set expands the official map of California’s river otter range by 4,100 square miles.

Now Isadore is going national, and one of her first stops will be the Elizabeth River. Like San Francisco, Norfolk is where water meets urban landscapes and connects to a large bay.

“It’s our respite in a major metropolitan area,” said Chesapeake resident Angelique Thames, who attended the Otter Spotter presentation at the Pru and Louis Ryan Resilience Lab and Learning Park. “And so we kind of own it and we want to protect it, keep it safe and keep it clean.”

As the top steals their food chain, otters need many things to thrive, from adequate food sources to adequate shelter. So if an otter is present, chances are the ecosystem is quite healthy.

“The fact that there are river otters here indicates that good things are happening in the (Chesapeake) Bay,” Isadore said.

Similar to the situation in the West, the capture took a heavy toll on the Bay region’s otter population, as well as water pollution, habitat loss and disruption of natural streams. In Virginia, for example, their numbers were extremely low in the 1970s, and in 1978 the state banned trapping and added otters to the endangered species list.

The population recovered quite quickly, despite the animals’ relatively slow reproductive rate. Otters were delisted in Virginia in 1990, although the state continues to limit trapping to three months per year. Pennsylvania and Maryland also restrict otter fishing. Isadore believes this has made a difference, but she also attributes their return to the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act.

Leah Card, a Virginia Department of Wildlife biologist who specializes in furbearers — animals trapped for fur — said the state’s river otter population is increasing and doing well.

“We only have a few scientists, so if we have this citizen science project (tell us) where the otters are, and record any behavior — that’s very helpful,” Card said. “I think getting a better picture of what the population looks like now will help us move forward.”

In California, data collected by Otter Spotter has helped agencies make decisions about development plans, land use and oil spill response plans.

Isadore hopes to bring that knowledge to the Chesapeake Bay — and she’s counting on citizens, even outside the Elizabeth River basin, to join the search and submit their photos at elizabethriverotter.fieldscope.org. The Elizabeth River Project is also offering a FieldScope training to learn how to enter the data on June 20 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

To spot an otter, Isadore recommends looking not only for movements on the water’s surface, but also for signs on land, such as broken vegetation, paw prints and especially feces. It is not uncommon to see them in storm drains, quarries and gravel banks. They also like docks and are most active at dusk and dawn.

Otters are often confused with muskrats, beavers and nutria. Characteristics unique to otters include a long tail that covers a third of its body, an extremely slippery coat when wet, and a weight of 15 to 20 pounds – smaller than an adult beaver, but larger than any muskrat .

Although otters are cute, they are wild animals. Isadore recommends keeping your distance.

“I hope people will pay attention to this good news,” Isadore said. “It’s one of the few good news stories we have these days. And it shows that people can fix the problems we’ve created, and that we shouldn’t give up.”

This story first appeared on bayjournal.com on May 1, 2024.