REPORT UPON THE INQUIRY RESPECTING EOOD-FISHES AND 

 THE FISHING-GROUNDS. 



By RicnAKD Rathbun, Assistant in chart/e. 



FUR-SEAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



lu the last aunual report a brief outline was presented of the iuqui- 

 ries conducted by this Government, immediately preceding and subse- 

 quent to the Paris Tribunal of Arbitration, relative to the natural 

 history of the fur-seal and the industry to which it gives rise in the 

 North Pacific Ocean and Bering' Sea, and also of the part taken by 

 tlie Fish Commission in connection therewith. By act of Congress . 

 aj)proved March 3, 1893, the Fish Commissioner was instructed to have 

 examinations made annually respecting the condition of the rookeries 

 on the Pribilof Islands, the same to be carried out under the direc- 

 tion of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whom the results are to be 

 submitted, and he was also charged with the further investigation of 

 the pelagic habits and life-history of the seals. The former of these 

 subjects, although requiring a prolonged series of observations during 

 each season, does not present any serious obstacles in the way of exe- 

 cution, but the study of the latter is rendered exceedingly difficult on 

 account of the wide pelagic distribution of the seals through a large 

 part of the year, their extensive migrations and rajiid movements, and 

 their well-known timidity at sea, especially in the presence of a steamer. 

 Nevertheless, much important information of this character has been 

 obtained both by direct observation and by the inspection of the catch 

 made by sealing vessels. 



As it has been found inexpedient to attempt the killing of seals from 

 the steamer Albatross, and the examination of a large number of fresh 

 specimens was considered advisable, Mr. A. B. Alexander, the fishery 

 exi)ert of that steamer, was detailed to accompany one of the lielagic 

 sealers in Bering Sea during the open part of the season of 1894. 

 Accommodations were furnished to him on board the schooner Louis 

 Olsen, of Astoria, Oreg., through the courtesy of her master, Captain 

 Guillams, thus aflfbrding an excellent opportunity for making accurate 

 observations regarding the proportion of each sex obtained by the 

 sealers in the open waters of Bering Sea, the condition of the females 

 so taken as to nursing and pregnancy, the nature of the food, etc. These 

 observations were farther supplemented in the fall by the custom-house 

 inspections at United States ports as the vessels returned Avith their 



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