126 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



altogether disappeared from the Pribjdoff Ishinds, Avhile on the Asiatic 

 coast it has similarly ceased to be a matter of commercial interest in the 

 Kurile Island chain. Althongh in the early j^art of the present century 

 it Avas taken by thousands in certain localities, a few hundreds 

 82 are now considered an excellent catch for a considerable district. 

 It is to be remend)ered that the diminution of the sea-otter has 

 been the resvdt solely of operations conducted from the shore. In the 

 old days the otter was clubbed, si)eared, or shot on the beaches, and 

 afterwards from stages or fi'om canoes close along- the rocks and beaches. 



401. The seaotter possesses, however, one imi)ortant advantage over 

 the fur-seal in the nature of its procreation. The young are born at 

 all seasons of the year and not simultaneously, and it is not necessary 

 for this animal to resort in large numbers to particular breeding places, 

 or to lemaii! on or about such i)laces for any considerable time. Its 

 disadvantages as compared with the fur seal are that it is not properly 

 a ])elagic animal feeding u])on niigratory fishes, but, on the contrary, 

 subsists chiefly upon sea urchins, molluscs, and other such creatures, 

 which aie only to be obtained in the immediate vicinity of the sliores 

 and their adjoining rocky patches and kelp beds. 



4(!2. As a result of its diminishing numbers, and the greater activity 

 of the hunters, it has within historic times not only greatly increased 

 in wariness, but has also very markedly changed its habits in directions 

 similar to those in which a change has already become observable in 

 the case of the fur-seal. In earlier years, it frequented ihe rocky shores, 

 and was frcipiently found on the land, forming in some instances ver- 

 itable colonies or ''rookeries," comparable in some res])ects with those 

 of the fur-seal. The young in those days were i)robably always born 

 on shore, and it seems further probable, though not proven, that many 

 of the so called "kitchen middens" of the Aleutian Islands, composed 

 almost entirely of the shells of eeliinus, and attributed by Dall to the 

 l)re historic Aleuts, really owe their origin to such prehistoric sea-otter 

 colonies. At the present time, it has become an event of extreme rarity 

 to see a sea-otter anywhere on those shores, and, so far as the natives 

 who spend their lives in hunting the animal can ascertain, the young- 

 are now almost always brought forth on floating masses of kelp. 



403. The sea-otter, in fact, appears, as the result of i)ersistent hunting 

 and of the ellbrts and instinct to elude pursuit, to have reached a prac- 

 tically irreducible minimum, at which it is likely to remain unchanged 

 unless new factors enter into the problem. 



404. The non-pelagic character of the sea-otter, however, renders its 

 protection a matter of comparative facility as contrasted with the fur- 

 seal. A strict preservation, for instance, on the Sannakh Islands, which 

 still constitute one of its remaining favourite haunts, would, without 

 doubt, result within a few years in this group being restocked with an 

 abnndance of sea-otters. 



405. Probably, the only remaining notable colony (or rookery, as it is 

 called from analogy with the breeding places of the fur-seal) is that 

 which is now strictly preserved by the Kussian Government on the 

 north west i)oint of Copper Island, of the Commander group. The sea- 

 otters are reported by the Superintendent of Copper Island as increasing 

 here from year to year, though a limited number is allowed to be taken 

 by the natives each year, and though the natives are iiermitted to shoot, 

 during the winter and in the absence of the fur-seals, anj^ sea-otters 

 found to the south of Matveya Point on the east coast, and a designated 

 point somewhat further to the southward on the west coast. To the 

 northward of the line thus defined, no shooting is at any time allowed 



