REPORT UPON THE INQUIRY RESPECTING FOOD-FISHES AND 

 THE FISHING-GROUNDS. 



By Richard Rathbun, Assistant in charge. 



FUR-SEAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



In the last annual report a brief account was given of tlie services 

 rendered to the State Department by the Fish Commission in connec- 

 tion with the controversy respecting the sealing question in the North 

 Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. During the summer of 1891, the 

 steamer Albatross was used to convey the Beriug Sea commissioners 

 on the part of the United States to and from the Pribilof Islands. On 

 March 15, 1892, she was detailed to take an active part in the sealing 

 investigations, under the orders of the Secretary of the Treasury, in 

 conjunction with the revenue steamers Convin and Bear, which service 

 had not been completed at the close of that fiscal year. 



During the summer of 1892, and again the following year, a very 

 careful examination was made of the seal rookeries on St. Paul and St. 

 George islands, by Mr. J. Stanley-Brown, then acting as a special Treas- 

 ury agent. His work included the iDreparation of a set of base maps of 

 both islands, on which the outlines of the rookeries were delineated, 

 and also the taking of a series of photographs illustrating the dis- 

 tribution and abundance of seals on prominent parts of each of the 

 rookeries. It was considered that the duplication of these graphic 

 lecords during a term of years would serve to demonstrate any changes 

 that might take place in the conditions and dimensions of the rookeries 

 and, consequently, in the size of the seal herd. The summer of 1893 was 

 the last preceding the meeting of the Paris Tribunal of Arbitration, 

 for whose consideration Mr. Stanley-Brown's results were especially 

 intended; but, appreciating the importance of further observations 

 in the same line, the Secretary of the Treasury recommended to Con- 

 gress that the work be continued under the direction of the Commis- 

 sioner of Fisheries. Favorable action on this subject was taken in 

 connection with the sundry civil appropriation bill, approved March 3, 

 1893, which also provided for investigations by the Fish Commission 

 relative to the pelagic habits and distribution of the fur seal. 



The assistant in charge of this division continued to be occupied 

 during the first two or three months of the cu«rrent year in preparing 

 material for the Beriug Sea case, respecting the character and condition 

 of the more important fisheries in foreign countries and the methods 

 there pursued for their protection and improvem.ent, 



F. R. 93 2 17 



