The island group has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding population of some 6,700 pairs of thick-billed murres, as well as other seabirds including glaucous gulls, razorbills, black guillemots and Atlantic puffins.

[5] The islands had been inhabited by the Inuit in the past; remains of their dwellings were found by Clements Markham in August 1851.

[7] Swedish naturalists Alfred Björling and Evald Kallstenius stopped at the Carey Islands in 1892 during an expedition on schooner Ripple to pick up supplies at a cache there.

The men attempted to sail a small sloop back to Etah, but were forced to return to the Carey Islands.

They found the Ripple, a man's body buried under a pile of stones, and Björling's letters.