28 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



shippers to be filled out and signed by the shipper, certified by the 

 postmaster, and forwarded to the Bureau. The number of such com- 

 pleted blanks already received shows that the quantity of furs sent 

 out by mail is very great. Similar blanks (Alaska Fisheries Service 

 Forms No. 2 and 2=^) have been provided for all shipments other than 

 by mail. 



The importance of Alaska as a producer of furs has usually been 

 thought of only in connection with the fur seal. As a matter of 

 fact the pelts from the minor fur-bearing animals possess at present a 

 greater annual value in the aggregate than those from the fur seal. 



The available statistics for 1910 show that the furs shipped from 

 Alaska during that year, exclusive of the fur seal, amounted to 

 $445,376. As this does not include the furs shipped by mail, or those 

 taken out as baggage, it is believed that the total output greatly 

 exceeded a half million dollars; and it is confidently belieA^ed that 

 with proper conservation and regulation the total annual take can 

 be increased to more than a million dollars without in any way endan- 

 gering the supply of the species. 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES. 



The work of collecting statistics of the oyster fisheries of the At- 

 lantic coast and of the shad fisheries of the South Atlantic States and 

 some other sections, which was begun in the spring of 1910, was con- 

 tinued during the year and is still in progress. Statistics have been 

 secured for the oyster fisheries of the New England, South Atlantic, 

 and Gulf States, and the shad fisheries of the South Atlantic States 

 and the Hudson and Delaware Rivers. 



OYSTER INDUSTRY OF NEW ENGLAND STATES. 



Although the natural oyster beds within the New England States 

 have always been far inferior to those possessed by most of the mari- 

 time States farther south, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Mas- 

 sachusetts for many years have been an important factor in the 

 oyster industry. The early settlement of a large population in the 

 coastal region and the proximity of New York City, together with 

 the comparatively small area of natural beds and the precariousness 

 of the natural set of spat, operated at an early period to render the 

 supply inadequate to the demand. But this condition made impera- 

 tive the adoption of a system of oyster culture under private owner- 

 ship which has resulted in overcoming the handicap imposed by the 

 poverty of the natural production. 



Originally the jurisdiction over this development and the power 

 to lease or otherwise grant the barren bottoms for purposes of oyster 

 culture was vested in the tide-water municipalities or other minor 

 political bodies, but eventually this local administration demon- 

 strated its incapacity to adapt itself to the legitimate deA^elopment. 



