96 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



delivered f. o. b. vessel at dock in Seattle. A similar offer may be 

 expected for all the bones that may be obtainable in the next few- 

 years. 



Arrangements are being made so that all other by-products result- 

 ing from the taking of fur-seal skins will be utilized. It is expected 

 that use can be made of all seal guUets, which have been found to 

 be convertible into a good grade of light leather suitable for special 

 purposes. Experiments are now under way to use the intestines 

 for casings. The blubber is being saved for use in dressing the skins. 

 A small canning outfit was sent to the islands in the summer of 1917 

 with a view to determining the feasibility of canning seal meat, of 

 which a quantity far in excess of the natives' needs will hereafter be 

 available. A considerable quantity of the waste products resulting 

 from sealing operations will be required for feeding the fox herd on 

 St. George Island, where the supply of natural food during the winter 

 is very limited. 



Careful consideration is now being given the plan of instalhng a 

 small plant at the Pribilof Islands for the purpose of preparing oil 

 and fertilizer or other products from the excess refuse material 

 resulting from the seal killings. This matter will be defmitely 

 worked out before another season, so that there will be no loss of 

 any part of the seal products. This is a distinct advance over con- 

 ditions which existed at the Pribilof Islands when commercial killing 

 was in progress years ago, for at that time there was no effort to 

 make use of any part of the seal except its pelt. 



In anticipation of large sealing operations and the necessity of 

 employing the best methods in taking, curing, and caring for the 

 skins of fur seals, and also of blue foxes, an arrangement was made 

 with Messrs. Funsten Bros. & Co. whereby there were sent to the 

 islands in the season of 1917 two experienced seal men from New- 

 foundland and two expert sealskin handlers from St. Louis. These 

 men are to cooperate with the agents, instruct the natives, and 

 bring into closer relation than heretofore the seal fishery and the 

 sealskin trade. 



BLUE FOXES AND REINDEER ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



In September, 1916, the skins of blue and white foxes that had 

 been taken on the Pribilof Islands in the preceding winter were sold 

 at public auction in St. Louis. The extraordinary prices received 

 for blue-fox skins in the 1915 sale were not obtained in 1916. The 

 best lots brought $113, $125, $128, and $135 per skin, the average 

 for the entire collection of 420 being $48.20. The 20 white-fox skins 

 brought $14.25 each. The gross receipts from this sale were $20,527. 



During the winter of 1916-17 the foxes on St. George Island were 

 found to be unusually numerous, and there was a noteworthy increase 

 in the number of pelts obtained. The take of 417 blue-fox skins and 

 2 white-fox skins left an ample reserve, 413 foxes having been marked 

 and released, while manv unmarked animals were known to be on 

 the island at the end of the trapping season. The pelts obtained 

 on St. Paul Island numbered 150 blues and 37 whites. These skins, 

 numbering 606, were sent to Seattle on the steamer Roosevelt in 

 August, 1917. 



