Between 1980 and 2000 the sea otter population of the Aleutian Islands declined precipitously. There were no signs of disease or malnutrition
there was probably an increase in the number of otters being eaten by predators. Orcas will eat otters when seals, their normal prey, are unavailable, and the Aleutian Islands seal population declined dramatically in the 1980s. Ttherefore, orcas were most likely the immediate cause of the otter population decline.
Most of the surviving sea otters live in a bay that is inaccessible to orcas.