86 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
total of 1,872,438 animals, as compared with 1,839,119 in 1937. 
Killings were from surplus ‘male seals, chiefly 3-year-olds, provision 
being made for a sufficient breeding reserve. The feeding and man- 
agement of blue foxes on the islands were continued. During the 
1938-39 season 1,029 fox pelts were obtained, and a suitable number 
of animals were marked and reserved for breeding stock. 
The operation of the byproducts plant at St. Paul Island for the 
utilization of fur-seal carcasses resulted in an output of 30,587 gallons 
of oil and 178% tons of meal. Except for limited quantities retained 
at the islands, these products were shipped to Seattle, where the oil 
was sold for commercial purposes, and the meal was turned over to the 
Division of Fish Culture for use as fish food at the hatcheries. 
A few additional buildings for the natives and the fur-seal industry 
were constructed at the Pribilof Islands, and improved roads between 
the curing stations and hauling orounds were repaired and extended. 
Some new structures and equipment were added to the substation for 
sea-otter patrol in the western Aleutians. 
Through the courtesy of the Navy Department the U. 8S. 8S. Vega 
transported the annual shipment of supplies from Seattle to the Pribi- 
lof Islands and brought out the season’s take of fur-seal skins on the 
return trip. The Coast Guard again rendered valuable assistance in 
maintaining a patrol for the protection of the fur-seal herd and in 
performing other service. 
Acknowledgment is made of the assistance by members of the 
Bureau’s staff in the preparation of this document. 
VISIT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES AND OTHER OFFICIALS TO 
ALASKA 
The Commissioner of Fisheries sailed from Seattle aboard the 
Brant on July 2 to inspect the Bureau’s fishery and fur-seal activities 
in Alaska. The party accompanying the Commissioner on this trip 
included Congressman Millard F. Caldwell, member of the House 
Appropriations Committee, Dr. Ernest H. Gruening, Director, Division 
of Territories and Island Possessions, and Mr. John B. McColl, chair- 
man of the fisheries committee of the California State Senate. 
The Commissioner’s party arrived at Cordova on July 9, after 
stopping en route at various points in southeast Alaska. From 
Cordova the trip was continued by airplane to Anchorage and the 
Matanuska colony and thence to Naknek. At this point the party 
boarded the Coast Guard cutter Ingham and proceeded to St. Paul 
and St. George Islands to observe the fur-sealing operations there. 
The Commissioner had planned to return to Seattle aboard the 
Brant, following his visit to the Pribilof Islands, but owing to an 
accident to that vessel at Kodiak on July 15, the Commissioner’s 
ee completed the return trip on the Ingham, arriving in Seattle on 
July 2 
Ward T. Bower, Chief of the Division of Alaska Fisheries, repre- 
sented the Department on the special fisheries cruise of the Coast 
Guard cutter Ingham, sailing from Seattle on June 24 and returning 
on July 22. Calls were made at many of the fishing centers and at 
several Bureau stations en route to Bristol Bay and return. Senator 
Robert R. Reynolds, of North Carolina, was to have made the trip 
aboard the Ingham but was unable to leave Washington at that time. 
