902. REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
$15 to $20 a month. The seamen, if on a lay, are entitled to one- 
hundredth of the stock, but most of them receive 50 cents for each seal 
taken by the boat in which they are. Hunters, so known, are the men 
who shoot the seals; they usually receive $2 for each seal and $6 to $7 
for each otter that they may kill and secure. The owners of the vessels 
furnish all food, guns, ammunition, and other needed supplies, and in 
case seals are not found they are the ones to suffer the loss, the crew 
being out their time only. 
The extent of this fishery from 1889 to 1892, inclusive, is shown in 
condensed form in the following table: 
The pelagic fur-seal and sea-olter fleet of San Francisco. 
Vessels. Seal skins taken. Sea-otter skins 
taken. 
Years. : cake oe 
| No. | Tonnage. No. | Valve No. | Value. 
ASSO meee cae coe cisiniee sinless iste sinieeiens adem cSISeess 6 | 377.99 1, 691 $15, 219 277 $27, 700 
TRU er ae ct es Ws Le a a Oe I a 9 633.37 | 5,818 | 69,816 | 273 27, 300 
GO A Ce Seat ouh eka Seah aoee scpeoe aso en east A eas 1, 153. 58 8, 948 134, 220 151 30, 200 
NS eee eee sete leeeiein nein ole cintefele minieteleie steteteteieminis 18 1, 308. 36 | 14, 710 167, 526 227 34, 950 
The average number of seals and sea otters taken by each vessel 
varied greatly during the four years named, and shows the uncertainty 
attending the prosecution of this fishery. Some vessels returned home 
without having taken a single pelt, while others obtained as many as 
2,600 skins. The following brief statement of averages, based on the 
foregoing table, shows some interesting points: 
Seal skins. Sea-otter skins. 
Years. Average | Average | Average | Average 
number to | stock to a | number to | stock to a 
a vessel. vessel. a vessel. | vessel. 
Ds geSteced ceo rc Caer none SHOE Saat atbor sccm sarin 282 $2, 536 46 | $4, 617 
UCU ose qbe dope aa qoceceeedace coco chebo ses asosccoqne 646 4, 157 30 3, 033 
SOLER eee ho mcses mee cee me eieten ce alee nena see ere 559 8, 389 10 1, 887 
1 BOD Hoes eee EE SPEER See oe cee Re ee Saat on ee 817 10, 470 12 1, 942 
THE WHALE FISHERY. 
Probably no other business on the Pacific Coast with anything like 
the capital invested is followed with the uncertainty of the Arctic whale 
fishery. One year may witness a remunerative fishery, to be followed 
the next season with heavy loss of life, money, and property. The 
fishery continues to center at San Francisco, which, in addition to 
having a large local fleet, is the permanent headquarters of numbers 
of vessels belonging in New Bedford, Mass. 
With the low prices received for oil, the whale fishery would soon 
come to an end were it not for the more valuable whalebone. Often 
during recent years only the bone has been saved if other whales are 
in sight, the remainder of the carcass being cast adrift. The market 
price of whalebone has ruled high, with wide fluctuations from time to 
