The population has soared from <800 individual birds in 1974 to nearly 200,000 today. But only one otter per mile. Because of the location of the islands, stretching like a broken bridge from Asia to North America, many anthropologists believe they were a route for the first human occupants of the Americas. Those sea urchins, which are “tremendous grazers” according to Konar, began eating more kelp that grows on the reefs, decimating the vast kelp forests that went on for miles in the Aleutian archipelago. “Ocean warming and acidification are making it difficult for calcifying organisms to produce their shells — in this case, the algae’s protective skeleton. Like other Alaskan cod populations, the Aleutian stock supports a valuable fishery. You have basically clear cut the forest of the sea.”. NPS. © Alaska Public Media 2020. Umnak Island is one of those spots that hides from satellite lenses. Aleutian Cackling geese were formerly known as Aleutian Canada geese until taxonomists renamed and … • Adugak Island - rookery for endangered Steller sea lion According to Good, there are two healthy sea otter populations in the Aleutian Islands — in Unalaska Bay and in Clam Lagoon in Adak. “We see the sea otters swimming around and hanging out, sleeping in the kelp reefs right here in Unalaska Bay, especially in the inner harbor areas which means that orcas are not likely to come in and predate on them,” Good said. Aleutians East Borough ( / əˈljuːʃənz /) is a 2nd class borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to Good, there are two healthy sea otter populations in the Aleutian Islands — in Unalaska Bay and in Clam Lagoon in Adak. Part of the Fox Islands, Umnak is the third largest in the Aleutian … As of the 2010 census the borough's population was 3,141. Konar began diving in the Aleutians in the 1990s, just as the Aleutian sea otter population began to crash. She is also a co-author of the new study in Science about what’s happening to Aleutian reefs. The island of Attu is on the western edge of the Aleutian island chain. Having decimated the kelp, urchins are now eating Clathromorphum nereostratum, the algae that create the reefs. “And so if they’re being eroded as much as they are in just a couple of years, and it takes them a few hundred years to regrow that amount, even if everything stopped today and the otters came back,  the urchins got eaten up and everything became rosy again, it would take these coralline crusts a really long time to come back.”. But in other parts of the central and western Aleutians — starting west of Samalga Pass and the Islands of Four Mountains — a sharp decline in the otter population from killer whale predation starting in the 1990s has led to a boom in sea urchins, according to Brenda Konar, a professor of marine biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Unalaska is located on Unalaska Island and neighboring Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands off mainland Alaska. “In a 3-foot by 3-foot section, you can find 400 of these urchins just sitting there, trying to eat away at the kelp.”. The islands are divided into four groups: the Fox Islands, the Andreanof Islands, … Now uncontrolled by sea otters, their natural predator — the urchin population — boomed both in body size and density. *Aleutian Islands* Volcanic island chain, separating the Bering Sea [1] from the Pacific Ocean [2]. The Aleutian Island chain extends from the Alaska Peninsula almost 1,500 km to the east between the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. “So first, the kelp forests disappeared,” said Konar. In 1970, Jim Estes made his first trek up to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.He was greeted by an ocean filled with furry faces. The Bristol Bay stock is near the target level and the Norton Sound stock is below the target level, and fishing rate promotes population growth. “And so now you’ve lost the habitat that organisms were normally coming into and living there, reproducing there and eating there,” said Good. And so when you have a lot of seaweed out there, you also have a lot of food. Without otter predation, sea urchins are decimating Aleutian reefs, Hope McKenney, Alaska's Energy Desk - Unalaska, killer whale predation starting in the 1990s, Christian, conservative groups organize to oust Supreme Court justice, Alaska case count hits new high, but hospitals aren’t sounding alarms, Pandemic prompts scaled back Christmas tradition in Alaska, Pandemic causes housing headaches for Alaska lawmakers returning to Juneau for next legislative session, Class-action lawsuit claims company misled shareholders on Pebble Mine. The borough seat is Sand Point. You have basically clear cut the forest of the sea.”. 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