Island Setting
Marine Mammals

Twenty-five marine mammal species are present in the Bering Sea from the orders Pinnipedia (sea lions, walrus, and seals), Carnivora (sea otter), and Cetacea (whales, dolphins, porpoises) (Loughlin et al. 1999). The western stock of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus), found west of 144° longitude, has been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since 1997. After being hunted to near-extinction during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, sea otters (Enhydra lutris) have repopulated their original habitat from Attu to the southeastern part of Alaska thanks to strict protection and careful management (Haley 1986). Although the abundance of most whales and dolphins in the Bering Sea is low, primarily because this is the northern extent of their ranges (Loughlin et al. 1999), approximately 50% of the world’s northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) population breeds and gives birth on the Pribilof Islands (Testa 2005).

A harem of northern fur seals (NOAA).