Administration of Wildlife Resources— Elkins 273 



especially on the Pribilof Islands. The present range, Aleutian 

 and Shumagin Islands, Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet 

 is very restricted and is unusual because of the spotty pattern 

 of distribution. Otter are now found at widely separated loca- 

 tions with apparently similar habitat between and it would be 

 relevant to know whether these are remnants of the original 

 population or whether they have become established by migra- 

 tion from the Aleutian Islands nucleus. 



How important this question looms may be appreciated by 

 the difference the answer would make in attempting to repopu- 

 late much of the original sea otter range. On the one hand we 

 would transplant animals to unoccupied islands and build up 

 new pods while, on the other hand, if migrations take place we 

 would intensify protective measures on the presently occupied 

 otter islands and attempt to build up breeding pods. 



The Aleutian Chain and other otter locations are not easy 

 places to work, one good reason why we know less about sea 

 otter than other fur animals. The Aleutian Island Refuge man- 

 ager and his assistant located at Cold Bay near the tip of the 

 Alaska Peninsula are presently the chief Service source of in- 

 formation on the status of the sea otter. 



Waterfowl 



Unsolved waterfowl problems in Alaska are sufficient to 

 stagger the imagination. I will here touch on only one segment 

 of one problem— migration behavior in three species of geese 

 and one species of duck. 



In 1948, we began banding waterfowl in the Innoko River 

 area of west central Alaska and in 1949 the work was expanded 

 to include the concentrated goose nesting grounds of the Yukon 

 Delta. At that time we did not know whether most of the black 

 brant from the delta moved down our Pacific coast or if they 

 followed the Aleutian chain to Siberia and on down the Asiatic 

 coast. The recoveries from the 1949 bands, however, came 

 mainly from California and we know that some of the Yukon 

 birds were going to the Pacific coast states. There was still no 

 tie-up, however, with the fall brant concentrations at Cold Bay 



