92 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
effective April 4, 1938, with the Annette Island Canning Co. for the 
lease of the cannery for 5 years. Under the terms of this contract the 
Indians are to receive 76 percent of the net profits from the operation 
of said cannery, and the company 24 percent. The contract provides 
for a minimum guarantee of $25,000 to the Indians, regardless of 
whether or not their share of the profits amounts to that figure, except 
that this provision shall not be effective if the cannery cannot operate 
because of strikes, lockouts, or stoppage of labor, or from any other 
cause legitimately beyond the control of the company, or by reason 
of action by the Government. There is, however, an unconditional 
guarantee of $10,000 to be paid to the lessors, regardless of the net 
profits during any year in which the $25,000 guarantee is ineffective 
due to the above-mentioned causes. 
The contract also provides that not to exceed 20 percent of the net 
profits may be expended by the lessee each year for additions, better- 
ment, and improvement of the cannery, subject to the approval of the 
Council of the Annette Island Reserve, such expenditures to be repaid 
to the lessee from the portion of profits accruing to the Indians from 
the cannery operations. 
In 1938 the company operated eight traps within the reservation 
the catch of which totaled 1,607,595 salmon, and 35,130 salmon taken 
in purse seines and gill nets were purchased from the natives. In 
addition, 1,252,705 salmon were purchased from independent operators 
of traps and seines outside the reserve. Of the total number of fish 
obtained, 137,370 were sold to other canneries, and the remainder were 
packed at the company’s plant. In the operation of the cannery and 
of the fish traps employment was given to 69 whites and 368 natives. 
Profits to the Metlakatlan Indians of the reserve on the cannery 
operations for 1937, under the provisions of the lease then in effect, 
amounted to $79,024.41. Preliminary estimates for the year 1938 
under the new lease place the figure at about $63,500. 
OYSTER CULTIVATION 
Under the authority conferred by the act of August 2, 1937, amend- 
ing the Fisheries Act of June 6, 1924, with the object of lending appro- 
priate encouragement to the development of oyster culture in Alaska, 
a 15-year lease, effective July 1, 1938, covering about 100 acres of tide 
flats in Shoal Cove, Carroll Inlet, southeast Alaska, was executed by 
the Assistant Secretary of Commerce in favor of William W. Whitcher, 
of Ketchikan, for the bona fide cultivation of oysters for commercial 
purposes. This was the first lease of bottoms in Territorial waters 
under the provisions of the above-mentioned act. A nominal charge is 
made for such leases, the consideration being at the rate of 10 cents per 
acre annually. 
Application for another lease of oyster bottoms in Alaska was 
received in December, and a lease was subsequently executed, effective 
January 1, 1939, covering 75 acres of tidelands in certain waters of 
George Inlet, Carroll Inlet, Blank Inlet, and Pond Bay, in southeast 
Alaska, in favor of Celia Fairbanks and Jud Conkle, of Ketchikan. 
Beginning in 1931, considerable experimental work has been done 
in Alaska to determine whether seed oysters may be grown, and the 
results obtained give fair promise that an industry to supply the local 
market may be developed. 
