Under the American regime seal fishing off the Aleutians save by the natives has never been legal, but the depletion of the Pribilof herd, the almost complete extinction of the sea otter, and the rapid decrease of the foxes and other fur animals, have threatened the Aleuts (as the natives are commonly called) with starvation.
The coast region above the Panhandle shows on a smaller and diminishing scale the same characteristic features, gradually running into those of the Aleutians.
In passing from the Sitkan district westward toward Kodiak and the Aleutians the climate becomes even more equable, the temperature a little lower and the rainfall somewhat less; 1 the fogs at first less dense, especially near Cook Inlet, where the climate is extremely local, but more and more persistent along the Aleutians.
Of these three classes, and of other than purely zoological interest, are mosquitoes, which swarm in summer in the interior in vast numbers; sea fowl, which are remarkably abundant near the Aleutians; moose, and especially caribou, which in the past were very numerous in the interior and of extreme economic importance to the natives.
The fishing grounds extend along the coast from the extreme south-east past the Aleutians into Bristol Bay.
