2002-2003 Alaska Fur Seal Investigations

July 01, 2003

The northern fur seal population in the Pribilof Islands Archipelago constitutes roughly 70% of the world's population with an estimated 919,000 northern fur seals in 2000. Smaller breeding colonies are located on the Kuril Islands in Japan, the Commander Islands in Russia, Bogoslof Island in the southeastern Bering Sea, and San Miguel Island off California. The rookeries at Bogoslof and San Miguel probably originated in 1982 and the late 1950s, respectively.