CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Trappers will soon be able to catch and harvest two otters during the trapping season in the Mountain State. The West Virginia Natural Resources Commission recently approved the increased bag and possession limit on otters during their third quarterly meeting of 2026.
“That was approved and will take place in the 2027-28 trapping season. So not this coming season, but the following season,” said Holly Morris, the DNR’s Furbearer Biologist.
Holly and her team have been working on research with otters in recent years after a push to increase the bag limits. Although the limit rises form one to two, many wanted the limit to be much higher. Morris said that would be problematic for their mission and that of the otter. Morris said they were able to get information on mortality as well as reproduction and then a second study helped develop population growth models.
“Looking at that growth model if we were to go to a three otter bag limit, based on the harvest rates we have at hand, we would actually extirpate otters from certain parts of the state,” she added.
The otters were reintroduced to West Virginia in a project which began in the 1980’s and concluded in the early 1990’s. The otters were introduced into a dozen river drainages. Those included the Little Kanawha, Elk, South Branch, Cacapon, West Fork, Greenbrier, Meadow, Guyandotte, Cheat, Shavers Fork, New, and Dry Fork. There were 248 otters transplanted in those waters from Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina. West Virginia wasn’t the only state, many were trying to reestablish the native otters. The effort was extremely successful and now there are multiple otters in all waters of the state.
“It was very intensive and at the time it was a national movement. But river otters are a native species, so we don’t want to turn back the hands of time to where we don’t have river otters,” said Morris.
Some complain they otters can be destructive to a pond with fish. Morris said surrounding the pond during the winter months with a low strand electric fence is an effective way to proactively protect bodies of water from the critters.
Morris said one of the most dramatic discoveries of their research was the profound movements of otters in a relatively short period of time. Using GPS trackers, the DNR was able to track remarkable travel distances.
“One male individual moved 15 miles over night. WE had other males who were maintaining 30 mile home ranges. That seems astronomical so this is really an eye-opening study when it comes to river otter management,” she added.
Although the otter numbers have grown, West Virginia still has a far more sparse population of otters than areas with a lot more water like Missouri, Arkansas, and coastal areas.