BUREAU OF FISHERIES 101 



Salmon products comprised about 80 percent in quantity and 92 

 percent in value of the entire output of the Alaska fisheries. The 

 total production of sahnon amounted to 372,585,000 pounds valued at 

 $38,749,000, or an increase of about 42 percent in (quantity and 32 

 percent in value over the output of the preceding year. About 96 

 percent of the salmon products in the 1934 season consisted of canned 

 salmon, the pack amounting to 7,481,830 cases, valued at $37,611,950. 

 Red salmon represented 35 percent and pinks 51 percent of the total 

 pack of canned salmon, as comi^ared with 42 percent for each of these 

 species in 1933. 



The production of herring was also above the average, with a 

 record output of meal and oil, inasmuch as large numbers of the 

 fish taken were too small for satisfactory Scotch-curing. Halibut 

 products declined in quantity but increased in value. A whaling 

 station that had been closed since 1930 was reopened and the total 

 output of whale products was more than double that for 1933. All 

 minor species except clams showed an increased production in the 

 1934 season as compared with the previous year, the most marked 

 gain being in the crab industry. 



The total output of Alaska fishery products in the calendar year 

 1934 was 468,424,000 pounds, valued at $41,963,000, as compared 

 with an average of 360,097,000 pounds valued at $35,845,000 for the 

 5-year period from 1929 to 1933, inclusive. The value of the catch 

 to the fishermen was approximately $11,707,000, or about $2,618,000 

 more than in the preceding year. There were 26,190 persons em- 

 ployed in the various branches of the industry, as against 21,695 

 in 1933. 



ALASKA FUR-SEAL SERVICE 



GENERAL ACTIVITIES 



The chief activity in the fur-seal service is the annual take of 

 sealskins for commercial purposes during the months of June and 

 July. Killings are confined as far as possible to 3-year-old male 

 seals, of which approximately 50,000 are secured each season. Of 

 the skins obtained on St. Paul Island, the majority are taken by 

 the stripping process and blubbered before curing. The method of 

 skinning by hand is still used altogether on St. George Island, 

 where less than one-fourth as many skins are taken as on St. Paul 

 Island. 



Sealing operations were performed by Pribilof Islands natives 

 and by approximately 60 natives from the Aleutian Islands under 

 the direction of a staff of regular employees. Nineteen employees 

 of the Fouke Fur Co. were at St. Paul Island during^ the season to 

 assist with the washing and blubbering of the sealskins in accordance 

 with the fur-seal contract. 



An allotment of $3,000, by the Public Works Administration, 

 enabled the reconditioning and repair of several buildings used 

 in the sealing industry. Some improvements were made also in 

 the way of construction of new buildings and boatways and the 

 extension of surfaced roads to facilitate transportation of sealskins 

 from the killing grounds to the curing stations. 



Delivery of 15 percent of the season's take of sealskins was again 

 made to the Dominion of Canada under the provisions of the 



