EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XCIX 



FUR-SEAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



On March 15 the Albatross was detailed to assist in securing infor- 

 mation required in preparing the case of the United States respecting 

 the far-seal fishery of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, to be 

 submitted to the Paris Tribunal of Arbitration, for which arrange- 

 ments were then in progress. This work continued until the end of 

 the fiscal year and was under the nominal direction of the Secretary of 

 the Treasury, although the instructions relative to the investigations 

 emanated from the State Dei)artment and the Fish Commission. The 

 ship left San Francisco on March 20, proceeding first to Port Townsend, 

 where she was joined by Prof. B. W. Evermaun, as chief naturalist, 

 and Mr. Joseph Murray, special Treasury agent. The services of an 

 interpreter for the Alaskan dialects and of two seal-hunters were also 

 secured. Mr. C. H. Townsend, naturalist of the Albatross, and Mr. A. B. 

 Alexander, fishery expert, were attached during a part of the season 

 to the revenue steamers Corwin and Bear, both of which vessels had 

 been dispatched upon similar missions. 



The principal objects sought to be attained through the agency of 

 the Albatross were, to ascertain if the fur seal has other hauling-grounds 

 than the Pribilof Islands on the Alaskan coast; to determine what, if 

 any, relations exist between the American and Asiatic herds, and to 

 learn as much as possible regarding the habits and movements of these 

 animals during their migrations northward. The necessity of moving 

 rapidly from place to place, however, prevented satisfactory obser- 

 vations relative to the pelagic habits of the seals, but in other respects 

 the duties assigned to the ship were successfully accomplished. 



Starting from Port Townsend on March 31, a course was set to 

 carry the ship over the usual sealing- grounds at this season off 

 Vancouver Island, bat owing to stormy weather only occasional seals 

 were seen, either singly or in groups of two and three. Cook Inlet, 

 Kadiak, and Prince William Sound were visited in the order named, 

 and the experienced native hunters and few white inhabitants were 

 interrogated at each place. In regard to Cook Inlet, Lieut. Commander 

 Tanner makes the following statement, which applies also to the other 

 places mentioned : 



The question as to \vliether fur seals were ever known to haul out in or near 

 Cook Inlet was among the many interesting subjects presented for solution. 

 Inquiries were made among men who have passed their lives in hunting over the 

 region under discussion, and the fact that none of them ever saw a seal hauled out 

 would seem to settle the question conclusively. The fur seals pass along the shores, 

 and sometimes enter Cook Inlet in small numbers when they are on their way to 

 Bering Sea; they sometimes loiter about a few days, and then an occasional one is 

 killed, providing there are no sea otter about; but should the presence of the latter 

 be suspected, the seals will remain undisturbed by the otter hunters. 



The past winter had been the most severe one known for many years, 

 causing much suffering, and this was subsequently found to be the 

 case at all places in Alaska visited by the Albatross. During one day 



