68 



ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1&17. 



More reliance must be placed on the cooperation of the shippers 

 themselves in the collecting of statistics of shipments of furs by freight, 

 express, and personal baggage than in the matter of mail shipments. 

 The Bureau avails itsefi, however, of the opportunity afforded 

 through the courtesy of the collector of customs at Juneau to check 

 its statistics of shipments made otherwise than by mail with those of 

 the customhouse at Juneau. 



The statistics of furs shipped from Alaska are compiled annually 

 on the basis of a year extending from November 16 of one year to 

 November 15 of the following year. Most of the furs being taken 

 each season within a period of a few months after November 15, it is 

 thought that summation of the reports for the periods from November 

 16 of one year to November 15 of the following year will indicate as 

 accurately as possible the take of each season. 



LEASING OF ISLANDS FOR FUR FARMING. 



The Department of Commerce may lease for the purpose of propa- 

 gating foxes and other fur-bearing animals the Alaskan islands hsted 

 in the following table: 



Islands Which May be Leased for Fur Farming. 



Of the islands listed above, five were under lease on December 

 1917, as follows: 



o Lease forfeited in 1918. 



Middleton Island, Gulf of AlasTca. — This island was leased in 1914 

 to Tim Marcum, of Valdez, for a period of five years, beginning July 

 1, 1914. The lease was subsequently assigned to Joseph Ibach, 

 present address Cordova, who took possession on June 7, 1915. In 

 December, 1914, and January, 1915, 6.3 foxes w^ere killed on the island; 

 in December, 1915, and January, 1916, 48 were killed; in December, 

 1916, and January, 1917, 50 were killed. In the year ended Novem- 

 ber 15, 1916, 32 live foxes were removed from the island by the lessee. 



