CXVIII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



landed at the Pribilof Islauds on July 8 and spent the ten days follow- 

 ing in observations on the condition of the rookeries. On July 18 the 

 Albatross proceeded westward with Dr. Stejneger for the purpose of 

 making similar investigations resi)ecting the seal herds on the Com- 

 mander and Kuril islands; the rookeries of the Commander Islands 

 being inspected from July .30 to August 9, those of the Kuril Islands 

 from August 22 to August 26, and the herd on Eobben Island from 

 August 28 to September 2. The Albatross tlien proceeded to Hakodate, 

 Japan, to refit and to enable Dr. Stejneger to make further inquiries 

 regarding the seals of the Asiatic herd. The vessel then sailed for 

 Sau Francisco, touching at the Hawaiian Islands. 



The commissioners remaining on the Pribilof Islands were engaged 

 in studying the conditions of seal life, in mapping and photographing 

 the rookeries, and in making inquiries as to the methods of the sealing 

 fleet in the adjacent waters. The last-named work was assigned to 

 Messrs. Townsend and Lucas, who cruised among the pelagic sealing 

 vessels on the U. S. revenue cutter Hush, examining their catch, noting 

 the sexes of the seals killed, and making dissections intended to throw 

 light on the feeding and breeding habits of the seals. Other investi- 

 gations relating to pelagic sealing were made later in the season by 

 Messrs. Lucas, Macoun, and Barrett-Hamilton. On August 16 Dr. 

 Jordan and Professor Thompson sailed in the British vessel Satellite 

 to make a further examination of the rookeries on the Commander 

 Islands, then returned to the Pribilofs September 1, bringing with them 

 Mr. Barrett-Hamilton. Mr. Townsend returned to San Francisco on 

 August 23 for the purpose of collecting statistics relative to pelagic 

 sealing. 



Messrs. Jordan, Thompson, and Lucas started home from the Pribi- 

 lofs on September 8, the other commissioners remaining on the islauds 

 until October 22, with the object of ascertaining the effect of pelagic 

 sealing on the young seals born during the summer. 



The result of the season's investigations of the fur-seal fisheries have 

 been published in a preliminary report.* A further decrease in the 

 number of breeding seals on the rookeries of the Pribilof and Comman- 

 der islands was disclosed, additional evidence on the destructiveness 

 of pelagic sealing was procured, and the resulting starvation of young 

 seals was observed at the close of the season by representatives of both 

 governments. 



During the time that the Albatross remained at the Pribilofs Captain 

 Moser was engaged in making a survey of the different rookeries, with 

 a view to test the correctness of the maps that had been prepared by 

 earlier investigators. During the cruise from the Commander Islands 

 to Japan the Albatross took many soundings in the little- known waters 

 about the Kuril Islands and in Okhotsk Sea and secured at some of 

 the more remote localities a number of hitherto unknown fishes. 



' Observations on the fur-seals of the Pribilof Isfands, Treasury Docmuent 1913. 



