THE SEA OTTER IN THE EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN 149 



that a warrant officer stationed at Shemya **is convinced he has 

 seen a sea otter several times" there. In July 1964, R. D. Jones 

 (1965) saw eight otters in the Near Islands and obtained skeletal 

 remains of another at Agattu. On an aerial survey, 2 May 1965, 

 we saw 13 otters at Attr, 4 at Agattu, and 10 at Shemya. These 

 observations indicate that the Near Islands population is now 

 established. The Near Islands were probably repopulated by otters 

 from the heavily populated Rat Islands. The statement by Nikolaev 

 (1960) that ''movements occur . . . from the Commander to the 

 Aleutian Islands" is not documented, and the present study indi- 

 cates that such movement across 185 miles of open sea is 

 improbable. 



The Rat Islands 



The Rat Islands (fig. 72) extend 160 miles from Buldir eastward 

 to Semisopochnoi. During World War II large military installa- 

 tions existed on Kiska and Amchitka, with small outposts on several 

 other islands. Since about 1948 none of these was occupied, except 

 for brief and intermittent military occupation of Amchitka, par- 



Khvostof-Davidof--39 

 Segula--56 

 Kiska--1, ZZ9 



Sem isopochnoi- - Z 03 



Amchitka--!, 1' 



146 \ 



10 mi 



178' 



180' 



Figure 72. — The Rat Islands group, except Buldir Island, where 15 otters 

 were recorded. The aerial survey was conducted on 2 and 3 May 1965 under 

 good to excellent survey conditions. The numbers near the islands indicate 

 the approximate distribution of the 3,147 otters that were observed. 



