ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUE INDUSTEIES, 1911. 27 



loss of the balance normally existing between the various forms of 

 animal life the weaker, such as the deer, must rapidly succumb. 



SEA OTTER. 



The sea otter is now protected both within territorial limits and on 

 the high seas. The killuig of a sea otter on the high seas under any 

 conditions by any subject of the United States, Great Britain, Japan, 

 or Russia, or Avithm territorial waters by any person, is unlawful. 



STATISTICS OF FURS SHIPPED FROM ALASKA. 



Even approximately complete records of shipments of furs from 

 Alaska have never been kept. The only complete statistics of all 

 shipments are those made from the Priljilof Islands. Approximately 

 complete account has been kept of all shipments that passed through 

 the customhouses, but of the vast quantities of furs that have been 

 sent out of Alaska by mail and the not mconsiderable quantities 

 that have been carried out in personal baggage, the Government has 

 had no record. 



Wb.en jurisdiction in this matter was transferred to the Depart- 

 ment of Commerce and Labor steps were at once taken looking 

 toward the development of a system by means of which complete and 

 trustworthy records might be secured of the shipment of furs from 

 Alaska. An arrangement was made with the Post Office Depart- 

 ment whereby any person desiring to ship furs out of Alaska by mail 

 must fill out a blank, supplied for that purpose, statmg the place 

 from which shipped, the names and addresses of the consignor and 

 consignee, and the number and value of the various kinds of pelts 

 contained in the package with certificate to the correctness of the 

 statements made by tlie shipper, after wliich the blank thus certified 

 is mailed to the Bureau of Fisheries, Washmgton, D. C. 



Similar blanks are required to be fiUed out for shipments by freight 

 or express or otherwdse. While this method of reportuig shipments 

 has been hi use only for a little more than one year it has proved 

 quite satisfactory and will, it is believed, when perfected, enable the 

 Bureau to secure practically complete records of fur shipments from 

 Alaska. 



The results thus far obtamed are veiy interesting and valuable. 

 Not only do these reports supply valuable data regarding the actual 

 and relative abundance of the different species of fur-bearing animals 

 in Alaska, but they also give mformation concerning the geographic 

 distribution of the species, the shipping points, names of sliippers, 

 buyers, and consignees, methods and time of shipment and various 

 other matters of interest. 



