62 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



SHIPMENT AND SALE OF FOX SKINS 



The 184 blue and 16 white fox skins taken on St. Paul Island and 

 the 799 blue and 3 white fox sldns taken on St. George Island in the 

 season of 1934-35 were shipped from the islands on the Penguin, 

 sailing on May 18. The vessel reached Seattle on May 28, and the fox 

 skins were forwarded by express to the Department's selling agents 

 at St. Louis, Mo. 



At the public auction sale in St. Louis on April 8, 1935, 457 blue fox 

 skins of the 1933-34 season's take were sold for $12,590.50, an average 

 of $27.55 per skin. The maximum price was $66, obtained on each of 

 a lot of four no. 1 silvery pelts. One dressed blue fox skin and one 

 dressed white fox skin of the 1932-33 season's take that had been used 

 for exhibition purposes were sold for $38 and $24, respectively. 



On September 16, 1935, there were sold at public auction at St. 

 Louis 491 blue and 19 white fox skins taken on the Pribilof Islands in 

 the 1934-35 season. The blue pelts brought $10,136.50, an average 

 of $20.64 each; and the white pelts brought $16 each, a total of $304. 

 The maximum price was $54 a piece on two no. 1 silvery pelts. 



SEA-OTTER SKINS 



Eight sea-otter skins were confiscated by the Bureau in 1935. Of 

 these, one was sold at public auction on April 8 for $300, and three 

 were sold on September 16 for $40, $50, and $105, respectively, bring- 

 ing the gross amount to $495 for the four skins. The remaining four 

 skins, which included one pup skin, were unsold at the close of the 

 year. 



Three of the above-mentioned unsold sldns were held as evidence in 

 the trial at Valdez in October of certain residents of the Kodiak Island 

 region charged with illegal killing of sea otters. The defendants in 

 the case confessed that they had gone on an expedition in the gas 

 boat Enima Sin September 1934 to hunt sea otters with rifles and had 

 killed 18 of the animals. One of the defendants, Charles L. E. 

 Svendsen, owner of the boat, was fined $200 and sentenced to 6 

 months in jail; three others — -Daniel Taj-lor, Alike Gregoroff, and 

 Constantine Chernikoff — were sentenced to 2 months in jail, in addi- 

 tion to the 7 months spent there awaiting trial. Warden Charles P. 

 Turner, of the Kodiak district, handled this matter in behalf of the 

 Bureau. 



The killing of sea otters in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean is 

 prohibited by the international treaty of July 7, 1911, and by the law 

 and regulations giving effect thereto. All sea-otter skins illegally 

 taken and brought into territory of the United States are subject to 

 seizure and forfeiture to the Government. 



FUR-SEAL PATROL 



UNITED STATES COAST GUARD 



The Treasury Department, as in past years, assigned a number of 

 Coast Guard cutters and patrol boats to maintain a patrol for the pro- 

 tection of the fur-seal herd, both during the northward migration and 

 during the period when the herd is at the Pribilof Islands. Five cut- 

 ters, three 165-foot patrol boats, and two 125-foot patrol boats were 

 detailed for this work. 



