THE SEA OTTER IN THE EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN 179 



Kodiak Island to Cook Inlet Area 



From the Trinity Islands, off the south shore of Kodiak, to the 

 Barren Islands, in the mouth of Cook Inlet, is about 180 miles. 



Records of confiscated sea otter skins in reports of the U.S. 

 Bureau of Fisheries (1912 to 1936) and the observation of four 

 otters near Afognak Island in 1922 (Eyerdam, 1933) indicated 

 that sea otters survived after 1911 in the Kodiak area. 



Lensink (1958; 1960; 1962) conducted both aerial and surface 

 surveys in this area and reviewed the numerous reports available 

 from various individuals who lived in or visited the area during a 

 period of many years. The historical record of 18th and 19th 

 century otter hunters, as well as midden excavations reported by 

 Laughlin (1963), reveal that the sea otter was once numerous in 

 the Kodiak area. Today repopulation is proceeding slowly. The 

 majority of observations of otters come from waters off the north 

 coast of Afognak Island and nearby Shuyak Island or from the 

 Barren Islands. Lensink (1958) says of the few Kodiak Island 

 reports that "The observations of otters on Kodiak are believed to 

 be stray animals from the Shuyak area." 



During the 1957 surveys Lensink did not find otters in the 

 Trinity Islands but reports that R. Lopp observed 14 in 1957 

 (Lensink, 1958). The results of surveys by Lensink and W. Troyer 

 are shown in table 34. D. L. Spencer has fiown over and visited on 

 the ground much of the coastal Kodiak area in recent years. He 

 told me in 1962 of reports from many local inhabitants. These all 

 indicate that the Kodiak area has not been repopulated to a signif- 

 icant degree. 



On the west side of Cook Inlet, in Kamishak Bay, Spencer (letter, 

 1957) observed 40 otters at Augustine Island and one at Shaw 

 Island. 



Kenai Peninsula, Prince William Sound, and Kayak Island areas 

 The distance from the tip of the Kenai Peninsula to Kayak 



Table 34. — Numbers of sea otters observed and estimated population in the 



Kodiak Islands 



[Data for 1957 and 1959 are from Lensink (1962), except the estimates based on field observa- 

 tions; 1965 data is from aerial survey by Spencer and Kenyon] 



Island 





Survey 

 date 



otters 

 observed 



Estimate 

 of total 



Augustine and Shaw Islands and Cape Douglas a 

 Barren 



Trinity 



rea 



- April 1965 

 .. July 1959 

 July 1959 

 - July 1957 



120 

 272 

 395 

 14 



200 



363 

 527 

 28 











Total 







801 



1.118 



