REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES, 4S 



the pelts on the islands before they are salted. In the season of 1922 

 approximately 50 per cent of the skins were taken in this manner. 

 Exjoansion in facilities will make possible its application to about 75 

 per cent in 1923. It is planned to remove practically all skins in 

 this way during the next season. 



A party headed by Assistant Secretary Huston was at the 

 Pribilof Islands from July 11 to 19, 1922, for the purpose of observ- 

 ing methods and giving consideration to administrative policies. 

 Included in the party were Dr. Leonhard Steineger, of the U. S. 

 National Museum, a noted authority in regard to the fur seals of 

 the north Pacific, and Ward T. Bower, of the Bureau of Fisheries. 

 After leaving the Pribilofs, visits were made to the Commander 

 Islands to note conditions regarding the Russian fur-seal herd, 

 and to Robben Island, to which the Japanese herd resorts. Con- 

 sideration was also given to fishery and fur-seal matters in Japan 

 and elsewhere. 



A representative of the bureau authenticated 625 fur-seal skins 

 taken by Indians in the vicinity of Sitka, Alaska, during the spring 

 migration of 1923, and 1 additional skin that had been taken in 

 the spring of 1922 but not authenticated at that time. Indians also 

 took 871 fur-seal skins off the coast of Washington, which were 

 authenticated by the superintendent of the Neah Bay Reservation 

 under authorization by the Department of Commerce. A patrol for 

 the protection of the seal herd during its migration to the Pribilof 

 Islands was conducted by vessels of the U. S. Coast Guard. Four 

 vessels of the bureau also maintained a patrol of the sealing grounds 

 in the vicinity of Sitka. 



The bureau's vessel Eider performed excellent service for the 

 islands during the first six months of the current fiscal year in 

 which she made seven trips from Unalaska to the Pribilof Islands. 

 One trip was made to King Cove in an effort to secure native work- 

 men for sealing on the Pribilofs and one trip to Belkofsky to return 

 native laborers to their homes. Early in January the vessel was 

 ordered to Cordova for repairs and later was sent to Seattle for the 

 installation of a Diesel engine. The vessel was still at Seattle at the 

 end of the fiscal year but was expected to return to Alaska about the 

 middle of July. 



SEAL HERD. 



The 1922 estimate of the seal herd, as of August 10, gives the total 

 number of animals as 604,962, an increase of 23,519 over 1921. In 

 1922 some experiments were made in photographing sections of the 

 lookeries, with a view to determining the practicability of the use of 

 photography in the counting of seals. No conclusive results were 

 obtained. 



TAKE OF SEALSKINS. 



The number of seals killed under Government supervision on the 

 Pribilof Islands in 1922 was 31,156, of which 30,260 were taken dur- 

 ing the regular season ended August 5 and the remainder in the fall 

 and winter. 



