abstracts: fisheries 289 



In close quarters the intensity of these reactions may amount to twice 

 the resistance of the vessel to propulsion, and situations may readily 

 arise in which vessels will be brought into collision regardless of the 

 action of the rudder. G. W. Littlehales. 



FISHERIES. — Special investigation of the Alaska fur-seal rookeries, 

 1910. Harold Heath. Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 748. 

 Pp. 22. November, 1911. 



Dr. Heath, sent to the Pribilof Islands as a special scientific investi- 

 gator pending the permanent appointment of a resident naturalist under 

 the act of Congress of April 21, 1910, affecting the seal fisheries, reports 

 that compared with estimates of the preceding year the herd has 

 apparently undergone a loss of 13,293 in its numbers, by reason of the 

 incessant killing of seals at sea in the vicinity of the islands by the Japan- 

 ese and Canadian fleets. 



The breeding herd is well supplied with male life, however, the average 

 harem in 1910 containing fewer than 32 cows and there being a surplus 

 of 600 idle and young bulls. With such proportions of the sexes and 

 the polygamous habit of the seal, and with, moreover, a breeding reserve 

 of 1,000 to 2,000 bachelors exempted from killing every year, there is 

 no possibility of injury to the seal herd as a result of land killing under 

 present regulations. Ethel M. Smith. 



FISHERIES. — The salmon fisheries of the Pacific coast. John N. Cobb. 



Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 751. Pp. 179. November, 



1911. 

 This report is historical, descriptive and statistical, covering the entire 

 period of salmon canning on the west coast, discussing the development 

 of fishing methods and preservation processes, and containing figures for 

 every year from the beginning of the industry down thru 1909. It 

 contains also a chapter on fishery legislation and law enforcement, an 

 account of salmon hatcher}- work, and figures showing the foreign trade 

 in salmon. E. M. Smith. 



FISHERIES.— The fur-seal fisheries of Alaska in 1910. Walter I. 



Lembkey. Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 749. Pp. 35. 



November, 1911. 



The status of the fur-seal industry of Alaska was changed by the law 



of April 21, 1910, the former leasing system being abandoned for direct 



government management of these resources. 



The law relating to the killing of seals on the Pribilof Islands exempts 

 all females and all seals under one year of age. The additional Depart- 



