grounds between Cape Saint Elias and 

 the Trinity Islands in the Gulf of Alaska. 

 At dockside prices this amount of 

 halibut is worth approximately $270,000 

 (preliminary statement issued at the 

 annual meeting of the International 

 Pacific Halibut Commission, January 

 1959). As one result of the poll, the 

 International Pacific Halibut Commis- 

 sion has required that all fishermen 

 record depredation in the logbooks 

 that they keep for the Commission. 



Stomach analyses reported in the 

 literature (Pike, 1958; Mathisen, 1958) 

 indicate that the diet of sea lions is 

 varied and that no significant numbers 

 of commercially important species are 

 taken. However, most of the stomach 

 samples were taken fronn sea lions on 

 rookeries during the breeding season, 

 and they may not reflect completely 

 the food habits of sea lions. Food 

 habits during other seasons of the year 

 are unknown. Recent evidence obtained 

 by the Fisheries Research Institute 

 during a high seas tagging program in 

 the North Pacific and Bering Sea points 

 to possible open-sea predation on sal- 

 mon by sea lions (Mathisen, 1958). At 

 present it appears that, except when 

 they are in contact with an active 

 fishery, sea lions take insignificant 

 quantities of commercial species with 

 the possible exception of salmon. 



The depredations of sea lions in the 

 vicinity of active fisheries are serious 

 because they cause measurable econo- 

 mic losses by damaging fish and gear 

 and intangible economic losses by re- 

 ducing fishing time or frightening fish 

 away from the gear. Control measures 

 should be applied in critical areas. Pro- 

 grams of complete destruction of herds 

 have been attemptedin the past and have 

 met rightly deserved criticism and op- 

 position from conservationists through- 

 out the nation. Bounty programs were 

 attempted but have been abandoned. Re- 

 duction of a herd by a bounty system is 

 expensive and unwieldy and may fail to 

 correct the situation, because kills may 

 not be made at the proper place or time 

 or in adequate numbers. 



A practical approach to the prob- 

 lem of control may lie in commercial 

 exploitation of these manamais. Dassow 



(1956) and Kyte (1956) investigated 

 possibilities of utilizing sea lions and 

 found that both leanmeat and liver were 

 high in protein and low in oil content. 

 The protein content was similar to 

 horse meat and lean whale meat, both 

 of which are used extensively in animal 

 feeds. There is a demand for an eco- 

 nomical meat, with high-protein and 

 low-fat content, for use as either fur 

 farm or fish hatchery feed in the 

 midwestern and western states. Pilot 

 studies involving harvesting techniques 

 and handling of sea lions conducted on 

 Chernabura, one of the Shumagin 

 Islands, by the Fisheries Research 

 Institute through a contract with the 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, indi- 

 cates that sea lions might be taken 

 from rookeries in commercial quanti- 

 ties (Baade, et al .)' As a result, the 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 awarded a contract in the spring of 

 1959 to a commercial fishing company, 

 Arctic Maid Fisheries, Inc., to develop 

 techniques for harvesting sea lions on 

 rookeries in Alaskan waters and to 

 investigate markets for commercial 

 utilization. The company operates a 

 freezership, the motor vessel Arctic 

 Maidi which served as mothership and 

 base for the operation (fig. 1). It is 

 the purpose of this report to present 

 the results of this investigation. 



THE EXPERIMENTAL HARVEST 



Equipment and Facilities of the Arctic 

 Maid 



The Arctic Maid, adiesel-electric 

 ship of 960 gross tons, is 186 feet in 

 length and has a 39-foot beam. Power 

 to the ship's single screw is furnished 

 by twin 900-hp. diesel engines that 

 deliver 1,500 horsepower to the pro- 

 peller shaft. Two 75-kw diesel gen- 

 erators supply electric power to the 

 ship's equipment. 



The ship has two 5-ton-capacity 

 electric cargo winches, located forward 

 and aft, which were used to hoist ani- 

 mals aboard and to lower processed 

 meat into the hold (fig. 2). 



' Baade, Robert T., Ole A. Mathisen, and Ron J. Lopp. 

 In press. Studies on the Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubata) 

 on Chernabura Island in the Shumagin area of Alaska 

 during the summer of 1958. 



