J. PISCICULTURE AND THE FISHERIES. 421 



to the city markets amounted to 852,900 shad, 3,789,800 her- 

 ring (or alewives), 326,200 Taylor herring, 553,761 bunches 

 of small fish, 496 sturgeon, 448,557 bushels of oysters, 524,000 

 clams, and 336,000 crabs. The total number of all kinds of 

 fish is estimated at 9,428,581, and as weighing 8,548,851 

 pounds. Report of C. Ludington. 



ACT IN REGARD TO KILLING SEALS IN ALASKA. 



At present the principal source of income to the United 

 States from its acquisition of Alaska, and that which pays 

 the larger part of the interest on the original investment of 

 $7,000,000 in its purchase, is derived from the fur-seal islands 

 of St. Paul and St. George, which constitute the Pribylov 

 group, situated in the Behring Sea, and north of the Aleu- 

 tians. It is from these islands that the greater number of 

 the skins of the fur seal, as known in commerce, are derived, 

 the animals resorting to them in immense numbers every 

 spring for the purpose of bringing forth their young. 



Although a few seals are taken elsewhere in the North 

 Pacific, the breeding-grounds or rookeries are almost entire- 

 ly in the Pribylov group ; and, as such, require to be guard- 

 ed with great care, especially in the way of determining the 

 class of animals that shall be killed, and of limiting the num- 

 ber. 



In 1870 an act was passed by Congress placing this limita- 

 tion at 100,000, of which 75,000 were to be taken from the 

 island of St. Paul, and 25,000 from St. George, and it was 

 made unlawful to kill any female seal, or any male less than 

 a year old. The Secretary of the Treasury was also author- 

 ized to lease the islands for a term of twenty years, from the 

 1st of May, 1870, at an annual rental of not less than $50,000, 

 and in addition a royalty of $2 per skin was to be exacted. 

 The natives, however, were to be allowed to take a certain 

 number of skins for their own purposes, upon which a similar 

 royalty was to be paid. In fact, the total annual receipts 

 from the islands, at the present time, amount to $271,000. 



The Alaska Commercial Company secured the contract, 

 and has carried it out in apparent good faith. The condi- 

 tion of the islanders has been considerably improved, and at- 

 tention has been paid to their moral and physical welfare. 

 The interests of the United States are guarded by a resident 



