[3] The Pribilof Islands were discovered by Russian fur hunters in 1786, and in the following years a number of small villages for hunting and processing seals were established, including ones at the sites of the present-day St. George and St. Paul.

After the Russian American Company was granted an exclusive monopoly on fur in the area, these villages were largely consolidated.

The area is now part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, and the herd is generally subject only to subsistence hunting by the native Aleut population.

[3] Although no longer commercially hunted, the seal population has been decreasing recently, possibly due to huge amounts of debris that has washed up on the islands.

On Saint Paul, the historic portion of the main city are included in the district, as is most of the northeastern triangular peninsula ending at North Point, where major rookeries are located.