Find out more about lawsuit cash advance and what you should avoid when looking for this type of financial assistance. Under H.R. 4043, the “No-Otter Zone” would remain in place until an “Ecosystem Management Plan” and “Assessment of Carrying Capacity” are prepared by FWS and the National Marine Fisheries Service, a delaying tactic that would needlessly prolong the same arguments and controversy that have occurred during the past two decades. The bill would also provide the U.S. Navy with exemptions from Endangered Species Act requirements prohibiting “take” of sea otters. Military operations are not a primary threat to the species, however, and there have been few instances, if any at all, of the Navy harming sea otters in southern California. Although the Navy must acquire “incidental take” authorization for those rare instances, that authorization is available through administrative processes, making legislation unnecessary.

“This harmful bill would needlessly delay the termination of the no otter zone and continue to put sea otters in harm’s way. It would also undermine our settlement with Fish and Wildlife Service requiring the agency to make a final decision by December of this year,” said Brian Segee, Staff Attorney at the Environmental Defense Center.

“This stealth bill should properly be renamed the We Don’t Want No Stinkin’ Otters Act,” said Steve Shimek, founder of The Otter Project.