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 the 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 Bering 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 Corwin 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 preparation of a setof 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 
records 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 sizeof the sealherd. 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 cwrrent year in preparing 
material for the Bering Sea case, respecting the character and condition 
of the more important fisheries in fureign countries and the methods 
there pursued for their protection and improvement, 
F. R, 93-——2 17 
