THE FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1906. 



57 



SEA OTTER. 



During 1906 the schooner parties hunted from May to August, the 

 most frequented regions being the Fairweather Grounds, off Yakutat 

 Bay, and the reefs off the Sannak Islands. The schooner Challenge 

 also worked this year in the neighborhood of Amchiatka, one of the 

 Rat Islands. As the sea otter can be hunted only in calm weather, 

 the favorable hours are few. The schooner captains estimate that 

 there were only about 70 hours of good hunting weather during the 

 whole of last season. In May and June it was the best. The general 

 arrangement in schooner hunting is for the vessel to take one-fourth 

 of the gross proceeds and furnish everytliing but the canoes and rifles, 

 though including the ammunition. The native hunters will some- 

 times make a pro rata division of their share, but the favorite method 

 is for each hunter to take what he kills. The hunters usually go out 

 in two-hole bidarkas, two men to the craft, and will go 20 to 30 miles 

 from the schooner and remain away all day in these flimsy-looking 

 boats. The number of schooners engaged in hunting dropped ofi^ 

 tliis year, owing to the requirement of law which compels them to 

 clear foreign from the customs-house and hunt not less than 9 miles 

 from shore. These requirements make it unprofitable to outfit. The 

 fleet and catch in 1906 is shown in the following table: 



The Sea Otter" Fleet in 1906. 



a Had 14 on July 20; a few more were secured after this date, but the number is unknown. 



In addition to the catch shown above, 7 sea otters, valued at 

 $1,754, and one pup, valued at $25, were killed in various ways 

 (4 of them by Indian hunters at the southern end of Kodiak Island), 

 making a total catch by Alaskans of 28 sea otters, valued at $4,829, 

 as compared with 61, valued at $13,867, in 1905. 



For several seasons past, cod-fishing vessels have been reporting 

 herds of sea otter in Bering Sea about 75 miles offshore, but no 

 effort has been made as yet on the part of the hunters to verify the 

 truth of these reports. 



In various parts of Western and Central Alaska this ])ast summer 

 were heard reports of Japanese vessels engaged in hunting seal and 

 sea otter. The master of the schooner CliaUenge reported that a 

 Japanese schooner was hunting for sea otter ofl" the Rat Islands at 

 the same time his party was there, but he did not know whether the 



