Dead Sea Otters

Defenders of Wildlife is offering a total of $2,500 as a reward for information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of the person or people responsible for shooting two sea otters in the Monterey Bay area, around May 7 and June 12.

“We are outraged by these senseless shootings,” says Jim Curland, marine program associate for Defenders of Wildlife. “These heinous crimes will simply not be tolerated. We hope the reward will be instrumental in identifying the culprits and that appropriate legal action will soon follow.”

Previous rewards remain standing for information about other dead sea otters: One was found in mid-April of 2000 in Santa Barbara County; another was found in September 2000 in Monterey Bay; otters were found shot in March and August of 2002 in Santa Barbara County; and an otter was found shot in June 2002 in San Luis Obispo County.

“We hope that anyone with information...will do the right thing and contact US Fish and Wildlife Service,” Curland says.

Anyone with knowledge about the illegal killing of sea otters is encouraged to contact Special Agent Ed Newcomer of the US Fish and Wildlife Service at (310) 328-1516 x230 or by e-mail at ed_newcomer@fws.gov. [RM]

Not a Drop to Drink

“On the drive down [the coast] today I saw water everywhere,” said Scott Boyd, a guest speaker at the Carmel Area Democratic Women’s Club on June 28.

Boyd lives in Montara, a small coastal town in San Mateo County. He’s president of the publicly-owned Montara Moss Beach Water and Sanitary District. In 2001, Montara and Moss Beach voters authorized the issue of bonds, up to $19 million, to purchase and rehabilitate the local California American Water Company’s distribution system. About 81 percent of voters approved the bonds.

“When the community is convinced of something, they will bring it on home,” he told the group, lunching at La Playa Hotel in Carmel.

A year later, the state Public Utilities Commission ordered Cal Am to divest to a public agency.

Boyd and Molly Erickson, a former chair of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District’s board of directors, spoke about “Creating Clarity out of a Murky Water Situation” at the monthly women’s luncheon. Erickson gave a brief history of the Monterey Peninsula’s water situation—from the small stone Carmel River dam built in 1883 to provide water for the Hotel Del Monte, to the state mandate telling Cal Am to stop overpumping the Carmel River in 1995, to the proposed Sand City desalination plant of today.

“Now we have two sources of water,” Erickson said, referring to the Carmel River and the Seaside basin, “and they are both being severely overpumped.”

Boyd discussed his community’s successful public buyout of the local Cal Am system.

“On Sunday afternoon, someone came to my front door and said, ‘There’s a leak on 6th Street and I want you to know about it,’” Boyd said. “This is local control.” [JL]