THE SEA OTTER IN THE EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN 171 



several sources and estimates of all otters in this area are sum- 

 marized in table 30. 



Several Aleutian natives v^ho hunt and fish in the v^aters off the 

 south end of Umnak and near the east end of Unalaska have given 

 me verbal reports over a period of several years (1950-62). Fred 

 and Antone BezezekofF of Nikolski Village, Umnak Island, have 

 told me of repeatedly seeing a small number of otters in the 

 vicinity of Samalga Island and Cape Sagak at the southv^est end 

 of Umnak Island. Their highest count was 14 otters (F. BezezekofF, 

 letter 13 March 1961). The three aerial surveys of the Fox Islands 

 i: indicate that the small colony at the v^estern extremity of Umnak 

 Island is permanent but no increase is indicated. Apparently fev^ 

 wanderers enter this extensive western Fox Islands area which is 

 isolated from other populations. 



No one at Unalaska reported a sea otter sighting in the 1950-62 

 period. That sea otters are now repopulating Unalaska is indicated 

 by a recent report. On 19 and 20 July 1968, C. H. Fiscus, A. M. 

 Johnson, and H. Kajimura (personal communication) saw an otter 

 in Kismaliuk Bay, on the north coast of the island, and another off 

 Tiderip Point at the island's southwestern extremity. 



The available sea otter habitat adjacent to the islands from 

 Samalga Island to Akutan Pass is about 570 square miles. If this 

 habitat can support about 12 otters per square mile, the estimated 

 future population of this area may eventually be about 6,800 otters. 



Krenitzin Islands. — The Krenitzin Islands occupy a 45-mile 

 sector of the Fox Islands from Akutan Pass on the west to Unimak 

 Pass. The village of Akutan, on Akutan Island, is the only human 

 settlement in the Krenitzins. Occasional otter sightings near 

 Akutan are reported by native Aleut fishermen (Lensink, 1958). 



' Table 30. — Numbers of sea otters observed and estimated population in the 



Fox Islands group 



[The many islands, islets, and rocks where no sea otters were observed are omitted] 



Island and year 



otters 

 counted 



Estimated 

 total 



Samalga-Umnak : 



±£>Ot» 



Egg and Old Man Rocks: 1957 i 

 Tigalda: 



1962- 

 1965. 



10 

 9 

 1 



20 

 20+ 

 2 



l»DO - 



TJnimak-Amak : 



1962 



1965 



1960 2. 

 1965... 



11 



32 



22 

 53 



811 



2,892 



1,081 

 3,856 



!. Total (highest counts) 



2,935 



3,931 



1 Lensink (1958) aerial survey, 

 i 2 Surface survey of June 1960. 



