It wasn’t until I moved to Monterey
that I really started experiencing being in the ocean in a real way...
Being able to spend time in the water
is just one of the most magnificent experiences of my life.
I’m Jessie Johnson
and I’m a photographer
and camera assistant.
We have been filming otters,
elephant seals,
nudibranchs
and all the other animal life within the sanctuary.
We had the most wonderful opportunity
to spend three entire months following the southern sea otters.
The relationship between southern sea otters and their pup
is truly a remarkable one to watch.
As soon as mating is complete the male moves on
and continues to mate with other females,
but the female is left to raise her young on her own.
And so when you see these females
they're really single mums trying to make it work.
Many of the otters' first pups don't survive
because they're trying to figure out how to be successful mothers.
and when you’re watching these otters,
and, you know, because of the cold waters that we live in,
it's important that
they keep their pups out of the water as much as possible.
They have to trust the environment that they live in
that until the pup starts diving they have to leave the pup
at the surface of the water while they dive to feed
and they have to do that many times a day.
It's pretty touching to see how trusting
these mothers are with the environments that they live in.
and also, the huge personal sacrifices they're making to raise their pups.
Another behavior that we saw between the mums and pups,
that was so fascinating to us,
is they raise them almost in a nursery-like setting sometimes.
We’ll find huge rafts of mums and pups in beds of sea kelp
and the mums will be kind of dealing
with rough housing pups in the afternoons.
And you can almost see it on the mum's faces,
just like you can see it on a human mum's face, it's like...
"I’m just worn out can you just calm down. I just want to take a rest."
Their pups are wrestling
and playing and the mums are trying so hard to just keep them alive.
One of the things that we saw a lot of
is human interaction with the otters.
People love the otters,
they’re one of the reasons that people come to visit our bay.
Unfortunately they love them a little too closely sometimes
and when kayakers
or other people using the water get too close to sleeping otters,
the otters have to flush into the water and move to another place.
By all means come and see the otters,
but once you’re in the water there’s a few simple techniques
to protecting the otters
and primarily that’s staying back a certain distance
so that you’re not eliciting a response from them in any way.
When I was ten years old,
I started learning about how our entire world ecosystem is developed
and what I learned is that the ocean is the lungs of our world.
And so when you're thinking about this little Southern sea otter,
that only lives in certain locations,
you may wonder why it's important to care about this animal
and the reason is because
they are an indicator of the health of our system at large.
And if any part of that system breaks down we will all suffer.
Not only people that live in Monterey Bay
will suffer with the ocean change or become polluted or become toxic,
it will also impact people that live in the mountains
and in the deserts and worldwide.