PROBLEMS IN WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



most of whom are of the Orthodox faith, a library, assem- 

 bly hall, game rooms, and even a barber shop. Recently 

 there has been a considerable amount of construction work 

 to improve the living quarters and the fur-packing estab- 

 lishment. 41 



Originally Congress authorized the Secretary of the 

 Treasury to lease the privilege of taking fur-seals on the 

 islands. 42 The first lease was awarded to the Alaska Com- 

 mercial Company for a period of twenty years from 1870, 

 the company agreeing to pay an annual rental and a tax on 

 each skin taken. In 1890 a similar lease was given the 

 North American Commercial Company for a like period of 

 years but since 1910 the government itself has conducted 

 sealing operations. The total return to the nation during 

 the forty-year lease period was over nine and a half million 

 dollars. 43 



In 1931 almost fifty thousand fur-seals were killed 44 by 

 the natives working under the direction of the bureau per- 

 sonnel. In addition some nine hundred fox skins were taken 

 on the islands by natives who were paid at the rate of $5.00 

 per skin. The killing of seals is confined to three-year-old 

 surplus males and provision is made for future breeding 

 stock by reserving an adequate number of this age class. 

 With scientific handling, the herd is increasing from year 

 to year and it is estimated that at present it numbers well 

 over a million animals. 45 



^Report of the Commissioner, Bureau of Fisheries (1933), App. I, 

 P. 58. 



42 Act of July i, 1870, 16 Stat. L. 180. 



43 O'Malley, H., Fur-Seal Industry, op. cit., p. 9. 



44 Report of the Commissioner, op. cit., p. 79. 



45 O'Malley, H., Fur-Seal Industry, op. cit. Estimated 1,200,000 

 animals. 



