winter and is at its maximum in February and March. Sea conditions are 

 rough in the ice-free season when waves are generated by severe local 

 storms. 



Fisheries in the Bering Sea are very productive. Large stocks of 

 Pacific herring, walleye pollock, Pacific cod, Pacific ocean perch, sable- 

 fish, and several species of flatfish support lucrative commercial 

 fisheries. All five species of Pacific salmon migrate through this area. 

 Shrimp abound in isolated areas near the Pribilof Islands, and Japanese 

 fishing vessels trap several species of edible marine snails in the area. 



Offshore , marine mammals are not as abundant as in the coastal 

 areas. The Pribilof Islands, though, have large populations of fur 

 seals, sea otters and sea lions. 



Major seabird colonies in the Pribilof Islands are inhabited by 

 crested auklets, common and thick-billed murres, red-legged and black- 

 legged kittiwakes, red-faced and pelagic commorants, and tufted and 

 horned puffins. In addition, offshore waters are populated by slender- 

 billed shearwaters, northern fulmars and forked-tailed petrels. 



Communities bordering the St. George basin are small, predominantly 

 Aleut coastal villages. They include St. George and St. Paul on the 

 Pribilof Islands, and the villages of Nikolski, Unalaska, Akuton, False 

 Pass, and Nelson Lagoon on the Alaskan Peninsula. Sealing, fishing and 

 berry-picking form the traditional subsistence base of the Pribilof 

 Islands. Hunting and trapping are also important on the Peninsula. The 

 traditional subsistence economy has been modified over the last 100 

 years and a cash economy now dominates. This is particularly true in 

 the Pribilofs where natives harvest and process seals for subsistence as 



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