Many expeditions to the Pacific Northwest were not interested in charting: they wanted to collect pelts, sail across the Pacific to China, trade for tea, silk, porcelain, and spices, and sail home to cash in their fortune. Tens of thousands of otters were hunted every year, but the population was never given time to replenish itself. A Tlingit man told the Russians at Sitka that “cod lay eggs but otters are born in ones and twos, and because of this … they can become completely annihilated.” In the 1780s, a single vessel could easily trade for an average of 2,500 pelts in one journey. By 1830, the annual trade in Canton did not even reach that number. In many areas, there were none left to hunt, and Environment Canada estimates that there were less than 2,000 left by 1900.
When the sea otter began to disappear from many parts of the Pacific Northwest in the early 19th century, the fur trade continued with other animals, but the coastal ecosystem was damaged. Sea otters often live in groups, spending much of their time in the kelp beds. They are described as a keystone species because they have a major impact on the ecosystem. If the sea otters are not there to eat the smaller aquatic animals, then the kelp beds are devoured and urchins are free to take over the landscape. By their presence or absence, sea otters may completely change the types of plants and animals able to live in a coastal region and the size of their populations. An international agreement in 1911 protected the remaining otters. In 1969, the sea otter was reintroduced to Vancouver Island, followed by other areas of the Pacific Northwest, where their population continues to grow.
