BUKEAU OF FISHEillES 91 



FOXES 



The herds of blue foxes on St. Paul and St. George Islands require 

 little care and produce sizable yields of pelts each year. Salted seal 

 meat and prepared rations are fed to the animals during the winter 

 months when the supply of natural food is scarce. 



In the 1935-36 season 220 blue and 9 white fox skins were taken on 

 St. Paul Island and 799 blue and 6 white skins on St. George Island, 

 a total of 1,034, Six foxes trapped on St. Paul Island and 116 on 

 St. George Island were marked and released for breeding stock. 

 The reserve includes also many animals that did not enter the traps. 



The 983 blue and 19 white fox skins taken in the 1934^35 season 

 were sold at public auction in the fiscal year 1936. The blue pelts 

 brought $24,952.50, and the white $304, a total of $25,256.50. 



rUR-SEAL SKINS TAKEN BY NATIVES 



Under the provisions of the North Pacific Sealing Convention of 

 1911, aborigines of the Pacific coast may take seals at sea by primitive 

 methods. The sealskins thus obtained must be authenticated by 

 Government officials before they can enter into commerce. The num- 

 ber of sealskins taken and authenticated in 1935 was 975, of which 

 59 were secured by natives of southeast Alaska, 75 by natives of 

 Washington, and 841 by natives of British Columbia. 



FUR-SEAL PATROL 



A patrol for the protection of the Alaska fur-seal herd was main- 

 tained by vessels of the United States Coast Guard, supplemented 

 in the spring by two of the Bureau's fishery patrol vessels. 



PROTECTION OF SEA OTTERS, WALRUSES, AND SEA LIONS 



Walruses and sea lions in Alaska may be taken under restricted 

 conditions, but the killing of sea otters is prohibited at all times. 



In 1935 four residents of the Kodiak Island region were tried at 

 Valdez and convicted of illegal killing of sea otters in the previous 

 year. Several sea-otter skins which they had taken were confiscated 

 by the Bureau during the year for sale at public auction for Govern- 

 ment account. 



PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD AND GAME FISHES 



In listing an output of 8,120,000,000 eggs and fish from Federal 

 hatcheries during the fiscal year 1936, there must be explanation as 

 to the exact nature of this summary. The foregoing figure represents 

 a maximum production from Federal hatcheries for any one year 

 since their establishment. It is an increase of over 3 billion in excess 

 of the 5 billion produced last year. However, the greater part of 

 this increase is represented solely bj^ eggs and fry of four marine 

 species handled at three of the hatcheries in the New England area. 

 In fact, 6% billion cod, haddock, pollock, and winter flounder were 

 produced here. This work involves both the incubation of the eggs 

 at the hatcheries and the planting of the fertilized eggs directly on 

 the spawning grounds by spawn takers who have been placed aboard 



