THE SEA OTTER IN THE EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN 183 



miles southwest of the Trinity Islands and was not included on 

 sea otter surveys. D. L. Spencer told me in 1962 that he flew 

 around Chirikof and saw no sea otters there. 



Southeastern Alaska 



Observers occasionally report sea otters from the vast complex 

 of islands, passes, and straits of Southeastern Alaska. Enforce- 

 ment Agent J. A. Klingbeil, Jr., (letter, 14 October 1950) reported 

 four animals seen at Nakwasina Bay on 2 September 1950, which 

 he believed to be sea otters. He also reported a single otter seen 

 at Silver Bay, Baranof Island {in Lensink, 1958). The possible 

 observation of sea otters near Ketchikan was reported by J. 

 Ditcher in 1945 {in Lensink, 1958) and by L. W. Croxton in 1961 

 (letter, 1962). No observation, however, has been confirmed by 

 other observers. It appears that until 53 were transplanted to 

 the area by the Alaska Department of Game in 1965 and 1966 few, 

 if any, sea otters existed in Southeastern Alaska. 



Dall (1870) indicates that exploitation of the sea otter in the 

 Alexander Archipelago was intensive. Apparently this population 

 was wiped out before 1900. 



Maynard (1898) indicates that otters were most abundant 

 "along the coast as far as Sitka. South of that point they were less 

 numerous and were taken mostly from Queen Charlotte Islands." 



There is no record that sea otters occured in the inland pas- 

 sages of Southeastern Alaska and apparently they also shunned 

 parts of the outer coast. 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 



The sea otter apparently became extinct on the British Columbia 

 coast during the 1920's. 



In a conversation, in 1962, A. W. F. Banfield told me of a sea 

 otter skull, deposited in the National Museum of Canada, that was 

 found by Patch in the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1919. Later he 

 wrote (letter, 1963) : 



I discussed the specimen with [C. A.] Patch some years ago and was under 

 the impression it was a fairly fresh skull, when he picked it up. . . . The 

 National Museum of Canada sponsored an expedition to the north end of 

 Graham Island during the summer of 1919. . . . Concerning the sea otter 

 he [Patch, 1922] writes (p. 103): "I found a sea otter skull in a deserted 

 cabin near Rose Spit. Chief Harry Wiah said that about a year before our visit 

 an Indian shot at a sea otter which was resting on kelp near North Island. 

 He also said that about thirty years ago his father, his wife's father and 

 other Indians — a total of nineteen boats — got twenty-one sea otters in a 

 forenoon and six in the afternoon. 



