REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 21 



Attention is again called to the fact that the personnel of the 

 Alaska salmon service is entirely inadequate to a proper enforcement 

 of the laws and regulations and the carrying on of investigations 

 essential to a proper and intelligent administration of these important 

 fisheries. Several additional scientific assistants are urgently needed 

 in this service. 



ALASKA FUR-SEAL SERVICE. 



By an act of Congress approved April 21, 1910, that portion of the 

 previous law requiring the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to 

 lease the privilege of killing seals, on the Pribilof Islands was re- 

 pealed, and as the lease of the North American Commercial Company 

 expired by limitation on April 30, 1910, the Bureau, under the direc- 

 tion of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, assumed the entire 

 administration of the islands, including the functions and obligations 

 previously imposed on the lessees. The present duties of the Bureau 

 on the islands therefore embrace all matters whatsoever relating to 

 the seal herd and the care, education, and welfare of the native 

 population. 



Owing to the abuses connected with pelagic sealing mentioned in 

 the preceding report of the Bureau, the condition of the seal herd is 

 more precarious than at any previous period of its known history, 

 and the utmost care must be exercised to save it from commercial 

 extinction. In anticipation of the expiration of the lease recently in 

 force and in view of the advisability of a change in the methods of 

 administering the islands, the Bureau called a meeting of the advisory 

 board mentioned in the last report, which, together with the em- 

 ployees of the Bureau, embraces practically all of the available natur- 

 alists and officials whose experience on the islands qualifies them to 

 pass in judgment upon the present requirements of the seal herd. 

 The Bureau has based its policy in respect to the islands upon the 

 unanimous advice and recommendations of the parties to this con- 

 ference. 



The preponderance of the pelagic kill on the high seas, which is 

 beyond the Bureau's control, consists of mature cow seals, and for 

 reasons that are recognized by those having knowledge of the habits 

 of the fur seal the killing of a limited number of the excess of im- 

 mature males has been deemed advisable. Xo definite quota has been 

 fixed, but the number is to be determined by the agents on the islands 

 governed by certain rigid limitations as to age, sex, size, and the min- 

 imum number to be reserved for future breeding. The breeding 

 reserve is to be selected, as far as possible, from the most vigorous 

 and perfect individuals, with a view to the gradual improvement of 

 the herd. 



