Voyageurs
Europeans mainly traded alongside the coast of North America with Native Americans. The early fur trade with Native Americans, which developed alongside the coasts of North America, was not limited to the beaver. Beavers were not particularly valued and people preferred "fancy fur" or "fur that is used with or on the pelt. The fur trade was viewed as secondary to fishing during this era.
The earliest North American fur trading did not include long distance transportation of the furs after they were obtained by trade with the First Nations; it started with trading near settlements or along the coast or waterways accessible by ship. Soon, coureurs des bois achieved business advantages by travelling deeper into the wilderness and trading there. By 1681, the King of France decided to control the traders by publishing an edict that banned fur and pelt trading in New France.
Maritime fur trade
As marine furs became depleted in the early 19th century, American ship captains began to accept increasing numbers of land furs such as beaver, which were brought from the interior to the coast via indigenous trade networks from New Caledonia—today the Omineca and Nechako districts of the Central Interior of British Columbia. During the 1820s, the British Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), which considered the interior fur trade to be its domain, began to experience significant losses as a result of this diversion of furs to the coast. To protect its interests, the HBC entered the coast trade to drive away the American traders. This goal was achieved during the 1830s. By 1841, the American traders had abandoned the North West Coast. For a time, the North West Coast trade was controlled by the HBC and the RAC. Following the 1846 resolution of the Oregon Territory controversy between the United States and England, and the American purchase of Alaska in 1867, American hunters returned to hunting sea otters in the region, both from land and sea. Hunting throughout the Aleutian and Kuril Islands by American commercial outfits also contributed to the near-extinction of the species by the late 1800s.