Sea Mammals: Carl E. Abegglen* U. S. Fish and It'ildlife Service, Division of Resources and I\'ildlife Research, Anchorage, Alaska Population The nanrine mammal resources nenr Amchitkn Island consist from near extinction at the start of the twentieth century. of sea otters, harbor seals, and Steller sea 1io11s as Conservation measures, national nnd i~ttemationnl, haue perntnnent residents, northern fur seals that migrate been many, some even hauh~gbeen started in Russian times. througla Aleutian passes, and wholes nnd porpoises in the The crucial and finally strccessftrl ones are the Fur Seal surrouttdiftg seas. Archaeological and historic data on Treaty of 1911 and tlte Exectrtiue Order of 1913, which nni~nnl populations indicate that the species present tlten estnblislted what is now known as the Aleutian Islands were the same as those present today nnd dentoxstrate tlre National Il'ildlfe Refuge. The marine m?nnral populations contii~uedimportawe that sea mammals haue played in tlre (whales excluded) around Amchitka and in the western island's history. Sen otter observations nnd surueys made Aleutian Islands are h good condition. front 1935 to 1974 document the recovery of this species ARCHAEOLOGICAL INDICATIONS OF suggest that these grooved teeth were used for SEA MARIMALS personal decoration-as pendants for nose orna- nlents. The prehistoric people of Amchitka, in collimon Desautels et al. iuiearthed fireplaces associated wit11 the historic Aleuts, had a maritime economy with large cut wvl~alcbones. The close association and were dependent on the sea for the bulk of suggested to them that these may have been used their existence. These people also applied their as supporting beams for structures. None of these skills in ocean fishing to marine mammal hunting. bones were found in an upright position. They \\.ere expert sea~nenand traveled in groups or The animal remains from the six sites dug by family units from one islalid to another without difficulty. The practices reqi~iredfor existence on Desautels et al. in 1969 consisted of sea mammal, Amchitka and in the Aleutians iin general changed fish, and bird bones as ~vellas shells of marine very little during several millenia of human occupa- invertebrates. Site RAT 31 yielded more than ~~~ 11.000 mammal bones. Except for some human 11011..~ elements, the re~naillder\\,ere from \\,hales, pin- From their 1971 dig on Amchitka, Cook, nipeds, and sea otters. The few whale bo~les Dixon, and Holmes (1972) report the recoveiy of represented both large and small cetaceans. Species numerous sea mammal bones, which were ap- identified i~lcludedsea otters, harbor seals, Steller parently used as a\vls, casting lance heads, picks, sea lions, and a few northern fur seals. About 50% and for decoration. Among these were eight of the sea otter bones were from juveniles. From notched or grooved teeth, including four harbor the material collected, it appears that \vhole sea seal canines, one sea lion postcatline tooth, and otters were brought back to the village sites but three harbor seal incisors. Desautels et al. (1970) pi~inipedswere butchered else~vhere. Percentages recovered 25 grooved teeth from Amchitka excava- of sea mammals found in site RAT 31 generally tions in 1969. One of these \\.as perforated as well reflect historical records concerning Aleut food as grooved. Clark (1968, cited in Cook et al., 1972) preferences. Desautels et d. repolt Hrdlitka (1945) did not report finding grooved sea mammal teeth as having said that sea otters, which were available on ICodiak; however, Spaulding (1962, cited in near the shore, \\,ere killed in large numhers and Cook et al., 1972) mentioned sea lion teeth that that the Aleuts also killed many yo~ulgharbor \\rere grooved on one end from Agattu. Cook et al. seals. These statements are in general agreement with the numbers and species of the animal remains from site RAT 31. Far fewer sea lion *Now retired, at Olympia, \\'ashington. bones were found co~nparedxvitli the number of sea otter and harbor seal bones. The s~llallnumber valuable fur-bea~inganimals served as the catalyst of fur seal renlains is consistent with that species for this exploration. A Russian vessel is reported to being a migrant without established rookeries in have sailed to the Arctic Ocean from I<amchatka the arca. Desautels et al. found sea mammal bones through the Bering Strait in 1648. 111 1728 a1 and teeth made into harpoon and dart heads, expedition under Vitus Bering sailing northeasterly fishhooks, wedges, flakers, a\vls, clubs, and oma- from I<a~lchatkadiscovered St. La\vrencc Island ments. and passed through the strait later named for him. Another Russial~naval expedition sailed in 1733 but met urith misfortiune. There are no further EARLY HISTORY OF THE FUR TRADE acco~tnts of explorations from 1733 to 1741 (Goldcr, 1914). The history of the Aleutian Islands clearly A second expedition led by Beling in 1741 emphasizes the importance of the sea otter. Elliott made landings along the nortll\vest coast of North (1887, pp. 484-485) wrote: America and in the Shumagin Islands. Several of To the sea otter geographers owe their early the Aleutian Islands were seen during this voyage. knowledge of Russian-America; had it not been for Bering's ship was finally shipx\rrecked on one of the the greed and covetousness excited in the minds of fur dealers by the beaoty and costliness of its peltries Commander Islands, and Bering died on the island wllich r\ltasov and his Tartars first secured, towards the that now bears his name. The return of his close of the seventeenth cento~y,on the Kamchatkan lieutenant, Chirikov, from the same area \\'as of coast,-had it not been for this incentive the exciting, particular importance in turning attention to those pushing, aggressive, indomitable search made by the shores. Chirikov's crew brought hack many valu- Russian 'Promishlyneks' rvottld never have been under- taken. Indeed, for that matter, much of the glory able furs, including the skins of 900 sea otters. r\.hicl~ old Titus [sic] Bering is enveloped with, as a Rumors of the richness of this nexvly discovered discoverer, was not due to his love for geography or country kindled a spirit of enterprise in the hydrography, but it was the direct stimulation of fur merchants of Siberia. Tales of Beling's companions hunters for a rich return. They backed him; they fitted oot Itis small, miserable vessels, which in light of the and crew, \\,hen they retur~ledin 1741, did even present Itour, make his soyages fairly fabulous, \\!hen Inore to increase the desire of merchants to profit the rickety, 'ram-shackle).' construction of his rough from trade in sea otter skins, and, during the Amoor-built shallops is understood. relnaining years of the eighteenth century, It rvas not, therefore, until the Russians opened up merchants and ad\lenturers made numerous the trade, swiftly s~~pplementedby the third voyage of voyages eastward from Russia. Captain Cook and the aroused attention of the IIudso~l Bay Company, which speedily began to search the The first fur hunter to undertake the daring sea coasts of British Columbia and Oregon in those early voyage in search of sea otters was Elnilian Basov, a day-it \\.as not until this action \\,as taken, toward Cossack sergeant from Ieamchatka. IIe made four the close of the seventeenth centuly and the beginning voyages but only reached Bering and Copper of the eighteenth, that the sea-otter became knolvn, Islands. Later trips by others led lo the discovery first to the courts and then to the nobility of the civilized world . of new islands and to surveys of the Alaska During the first few years after discovery the mainland. numbers of sea-otters taken all along the Aleutian In 1763 Shelikhov, a prominent Siberian mer- chain, and down along the ~vholenorthwest coast as far chant, led an expedition to Bering Island, as the southern boundary of Oregon, were very great, Unalaska, and Icodiak. He spent 4 years on these and, compared with what are noxu captured, seem perfectly fabulous. For instance, \rre are told when the islands alcl established his olvn trading company, Pribylov Islands \sere first disco~rered, t\vo sailors, which later formed the nucleus of the Russian- Lukannoo and Keikov, killed at St. Paul's Island during American Company. In 1790 Shelikhov employed the first year's occupation, 5,000, but the next year Alexander tlndreevich Baranof to organize and they secured less than 1,000 and six yearsafternot a manage the affairs of his company. Baranof used single sea-otter reappeared, and none have been there since. his talents to develop and increase hunting and \Vhen Shellikov's party first visited Cook's Inlet trading throughout the Aleutian Islands and main- they secured 3,000; during the second year 2,000; in land Alaska. the third season only 800, and in the succeeding year Foreign ships also visited these shores. Bcrkh they obtained 600, and finally, in 1812, less than 100, (1823, translated in Ricks, 1963, p. 38) says that and since then not one-tenth of that number, although I am told, at the date of this writing, that during the Shelikhov complained in 1787 to Govcrnor Jacobi past two years more than 500 sea otters annually have about foreigners on American shores belonging to been taken on the coasts of Cook's Inlet . Russia: Eighteenth Century explorations throughout In August of last year during my sojourn in the North Pacific arca opened up nelv regions to Petropavlovsk Ilarbor, I learned from Ji'illiam Peters of colonization and exploitation. Sea otters and other the [British East] Indian Company that a ship of their Sen ~bln?nntnls:Resotirces a11d Po/~~clotion 495 company had visited our boundaries in 1.atitude 30' on board.