Sea otters are the largest member of the weasel family and the smallest marine mammal.
They are conspicuous members of near shore ecosystems of the North Pacific, ranging from the Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Peninsula south through Prince William Sound and southeast Alaska. Because they have the densest fur of any mammal, sea otters were nearly extirpated during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries due to over-hunting for their fur. The Marine Mammal Protection Act now prohibits a commercial harvest and allows only coastal Alaska Natives to hunt sea otters for subsistence and creation of handicrafts. Sea otters made a dramatic comeback from near extinction and now occupy most of their former range in Alaska. The goals of the Marine Mammals Management Office are to maintain the Alaska sea otter population within its optimum sustainable population range, to maintain healthy habitats for sea otters, and to conserve and manage sea otters to ensure that there will be opportunities for a variety of human uses, including native subsistence hunting and wildlife viewing.