The only permanently inhabited locality is the village of Nikolskoye on the northwest end of Bering Island, with an estimated population of 613 as of 2009[update].

[2] The majority of the island chain’s area, as well as much of the adjacent marine habitat, 36,488 km2 (14,088 sq mi), is taken up by the Komandorsky Zapovednik, a natural preserve.

The economy is based primarily on fishing, mushroom gathering, the administration of the zapovednik (i.e. strictly protected wilderness), ecotourism and government services.

Due to the high productivity of the Bering Sea shelf and the Pacific slope and their remoteness from human influence, the Commander Islands are marked by a great abundance of marine animal life and a relative paucity of terrestrial organisms.

[7] Bering Island was the only known habitat of Steller's sea cows, an immense (over 4,000 kg or 8,800 lb) sirenian related to the dugong.

[8] The much less diverse terrestrial fauna includes two distinct, endemic subspecies of Arctic fox, (Alopex lagopus semenovi and A. l. beringensis).

Migratory birds of note with critical nesting or feeding habitat on the islands include such species as Steller's eider, Pacific golden plover and Aleutian tern.

[12] The fish fauna in the mountainous, fast running streams is composed primarily of migratory salmonids, including Arctic char, Dolly Varden, black spotted trout, chinook, sockeye, coho and pink salmon.

[13] Eventually, a smaller boat was built from the remains of the St. Peter and the survivors found their way back to Kamchatka, heavily laden with valuable sea otter pelts.

The discovery of the sea otters sparked the great rush of fur-seeking "promyshlenniki" which drove the Russian expansion into Alaska.

Aleut (Unangan) people were transferred to the Commander Islands early in 1825 by the Russian-American Company from the Aleutians for the seal trade.