Sea Otter Recovery Grants 2021
Summary
SCH Number
2020110337
Public Agency
California State Coastal Conservancy
(SCC)
Document Title
Sea Otter Recovery Grants 2021
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
11/20/2020
Present Land Use
Monterey Bay Aquarium will rehabilitate and raise stranded sea otter pups at
its facilities in Monterey on Cannery Row. There, Monterey Bay Aquarium has facilities such as tanks and veterinary equipment and trained staff to rehabilitate otter pups. The rehabilitated animals will be released in Morro Bay, a protected estuary along the Central Coast in San Luis Obispo County that has an existing population of sea otters.
Document Description
Monterey Bay Aquarium will raise and release up to three stranded sea otter pups to
Morro Bay using captive female sea otters as surrogate mothers, and will analyze and circulate best practices for raising sea otter pups by surrogacy.
Contact Information
Name
Hilary Walecka
Agency Name
State Coataal Conservancy
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Address
Phone
Name
Agency Name
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Contact Types
Project Applicant
Location
Coordinates
Cities
Monterey, Morro Bay
Counties
Monterey, San Luis Obispo
Regions
Northern California
Cross Streets
886 Cannery Row, Monterey CA 93940
Zip
93940
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Section 15301
Reasons for Exemption
The Monterey Bay Aquarium project to rescue, rehabilitate, and release stranded pups into the wild is exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Title 14 California Code of Regulations (CCR) section 15301 (Existing Facilities), because it is a continuation of an ongoing program, which will operate in its existing facility without expansion of existing use. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has operated its sea otter surrogacy program, permitted by USFWS, for over 20 years.