44 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



An important innovation this season has been the branding on the 

 back with a hot iron of 5,000 3-year-old. male seals for breeding 

 purposes. This work was done before the beginning of extensive 

 commercial killing. In addition to the 5,000 thus branded, 5,000 

 were temporarily marked by shearing the hair on top of the head, 

 so that these animals were exempted from killing in the current sea- 

 son, and thus from abundance of caution the actual reserve of 5,000 

 required by law has been doubled. Since only 3-year-old seals are 

 killed for their skins, none of these animals will be killed intention- 

 ally in later years and will thus be allowed to develop to maturity, 

 subject only to natural mortality. 



SALES or SEALSKINS. 



In the fiscal year 1923 two public auction sales of fur-seal skins 

 were held at St. Louis. At the sale on October 9, 1922, 17,194 

 dressed, dyed, and machined skins brought $535,967.50, and in addi- 

 tion 164 raw, washed, and dried skins and 37 raw salted skins were 

 sold for $87.55 ; at the sale on May 28, 1923, 18,118 dressed, dyed, and 

 machined skins brought $564,224.75, a total of 35,513 skins and 

 $1,100,279.80. These prices averaged approximately the same as in 

 the previous year. 



At the May sale there were also sold 55 sealskins from the Japanese 

 herd on Robben Island, representing the share of the United States 

 in the skins taken in 1921. They brought a total of $1,940. 



As a result of the sales of fur-seal skins from the Pribilof Islands 

 in the fiscal year 1923 the sum of $69,105.86 has been paid to Great 

 Britain and a like amount to Japan covering value of their respective 

 shares of skins under the terms of the North Pacific Sealing Con- 

 vention of 1911. 



FOXES AND REINDEER. 



Herds of blue foxes of considerable connnercial importance are 

 maintained on the Pribilof Islands. To a large extent these herds 

 supi^ort themselves, feeding on the carcasses remaining from seal 

 killings and on the immense flocks of sea birds that nest on the 

 islands, but winter feeding is also provided for by the preserving of 

 seal carcasses. During the winter of 1922-23 a total of 888 blue 

 and 29 white fox skins was taken. The prevalence of warm, wet 

 weather on St. George Island, which has the larger herd, seriously 

 interfered with foxing operations during the season, as the animals 

 were able to secure food in plenty and were not forced to come to the 

 traps for food. A breeding reserve was also marked and released 

 on St. George Island. 



The 712 blue and 21 white fox skins taken in the winter of 1921-22 

 were sold at public auction at St. Louis, October 9, 1922. The total 

 amount bid was $67,310, an average of $93.18 for blue and $46 for 

 white skins. In addition, 12 live blue foxes were sold for stocking 

 fox farms in Alaska, delivery being made at Unalaska in S-ptember. 

 The price received for the live animals was $175 each. 



The herds of reindeer, which were introduced on the Pribilof 

 Islands in 1911, now furnish a valuable supply of fresh meat. It 



