FISHERIES OF ALASKA, 1908. 73 



In addition to the catch shown above, 4 sea otters were killed in 

 various ways, making a total catch by Alaskans of 32 sea otters, an 

 increase of 16 over 1907. 



The British Columbia sealing (leet, owing to the success of several 

 vessels of the fleet in 1907, devoted considerable attention to sea- 

 otter hunting this year, the schooner Thomas F. Bayard, of Victoria, 

 British Columbia, alone securing 28, the biggest single schooner catch 

 in years. The other vessels of the f.eet secured 7, making a total 

 catch for this fleet of 35 skins. As these were secured by foreign 

 vessels they are not included in the statistical tables. 



Fur seal. — The shipment of fur-seal skins by the lessees of the 

 Pribilof Islands was 12,466 from St. Paul Island and 2,498 from St. 

 George Island, a total of 14,964 skins for the group. These sold in 

 the London market at an average price of $30 per skin. In addi- 

 tion to the above there were 332 fur-seal skins, valued at $8,350 

 (price paid to the hunters and not the London price), killed by the 

 Sitka Indians in southeast Alaska, while a mysterious shipment of 

 134 skins, valued at $2,680, came out of central Alaska, making a 

 total of 466 skins, valued at $11,030, taken by Alaskan natives, 

 which, added to the Pribilof Islands shipment, makes a grand total 

 of 15,430 skins shipped from Alaska. 



The pelagic fleet hailing from British Columbia and working on 

 the northern herd was composed of 8 vessels, and its catch amounted 

 to 4,452 skins. The Japanese fleet of 38 vessels operating in Alaskan 

 waters took about 13,197 skins. The Indian canoe catch along the 

 British Columbia coast while the herd was going north amounted 

 to 502 skins. 



This year the Bering Sea patrol fleet comprised 1 gunboat and 

 4 revenue cutters. On July 22 the revenue cutter Bear seized the 

 Japanese schooner Saikai Maru at a point 2| miles distant from 

 St. Paul Island. This vessel had 6 of her small boats lowered and 

 the crews of these were actively engaged in killing fur seals between 

 the schooner and the shore near the northeast rookery. When first 

 sighted the vessel was about a mile distant from the shore. A few 

 minutes later the Bear also seized the Japanese schooner Kinsei 

 Maru within the 3 -mile limit. The Saikai Maru had a crew of 27 

 men and the Kinsei Maru a crew of 32. The former had 244 seal- 

 skins and the latter 416 aboard at the time of the seizure. The 

 captured vessels were taken to Unalaska and later the ofiicers and 

 men were carried to Valdez, where all were tried and convicted at 

 the November term of court, and sentenced each to pay a fine of 

 $600, or in default thereof to serve three hundred days in the Valdez 

 jail. Proceedings for the condemnation of the seized vessels are at 

 present under way. 



