FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
117 
the bluffs. The otters come out to sleep or rest or sport on these places, get entan- 
gled in the meshes, and seem to make little or no effort to escape, being paralyzed, as 
it were, by fear. Thus they fall an easy prey into the hands of the captors, who say 
that they have caught as many as six at one time in one of these nets, and that they 
frequently get three. The natives also watch for surf-holes or caves awash below the 
bluffs; and, when one is found to which a sea otter is in the habit of going, they set this 
net by spreading it over the entrance, and usually capture the creature, sooner or later. 
No injury whatever is done to these frail nets by the sea otters, strong animals 
as they are; only stray sea lions and hair seals destroy them. There is no driving 
an otter out upon land if it is surprised on the beach by man between itself and 
the warter ; it will make for the sea with the utmost fearlessness, with gleaming eyes, 
bared teeth, and bristling hair, not paying the slightest regard to the hunter. The 
Attn and Atka Aleuts have never been known to hunt sea otters without nets, while 
the people of Unalaska, and those eastward of them, have never been known to use 
such gear. Salt-water and kelp appear to act as disinfectants for the meshes, so that 
the smell of them does not repel or alarm the shy, suspicious animal. 
The following tabulated statement gives the figures for the pelagic 
fur-seal fishery and sea-otter hunting in 1888 . The walrus and sea lions 
taken incidentally are also included : 
San Francisco fur-seal and sea-otter fleet in 1888. 
Name of vessel. 
Rig. 
Ton- 
nage. 
Value 
of 
vessel. 
Value 
of 
outfit. 
No. 
of 
crew. 
n 
No. 
of 
boats. 
Number of animals 
killed.! 
Gross 
stock. 
Aver- 
age 
share 
of 
crew. 
Fur 
seals. 
Sea 
otters. 
Sea 
lions. 
Wal- 
ruses. 
Alexander 
Sch. 
49. 52 
$6, 500 
$3, 000 
16 
4 
220 
55 
$6, 820 
$150 
Angel Dolly 
Sch. 
18. 82 
2, 500 
2, 500 
10 
3 
17 
1 
19 
1, 050 
60 
Annie 
Sch. 
25.27 
2, 500 
2, 600 
12 
3 
1, 193 
6, 704 
200 
C ity of San Diego 
Sch. 
46. 16 
4, 000 
3, 000 
18 
4 
363 
34 

6, 000 
83. 
Helen Blum 
Sch. 
62. 87 
10, 000 
4, 000 
26 
7 
200 
140 
16, 000 
166 
"La, lira, 
Sch. 
19. 20 
1, 400 
1, 500 
10 
3 
9 
' 25 
1, 500 
75 
Lily L 
Sch. 
63. 42 
5, 000 
5, 000 
21 
6 
1, 700 
9, 350 
125 
Mary H. Thom as - 
Sch. 
93.08 
12, 000 
4, 000 
28 
7 
20 
50 
5, 000 
75 
0. S. Fowler 
Sch. 
33.68 
3, 000 
2, 300 
15 
4 
366 
40 
4, 196 
125 
Otter 
Sch. 
73. 75 
10, 000 
3, 000 
18 
4 
70 
80 
8, 500 
90 
San Jos6 ........ 
Sch. 
51.88 
5, 000 
3, 000 
13 
4 
150 
15 
2, 300 
75 
Vanderbilt^ 
Sch. 
92. 87 
5, 000 
3, 900 
26 
7 
147 
11 

1,835 
30 
Total 
12 
630. 52 
6G, 900 
37, 800 
213 
56 
4, 455 
§385 
1 
1184 
69, 255 
! 
*The nationality of the fishermen was as follows: United States, 141: Sweden, 18: Norway, 10: 
Japan, 3; British Provinces, 12; other countries, 29. 
tin addition to the regular catch, 11 bear skins and 39 fox skins were landed by the fleet. 
1 Lost in September. 
§ The figures given here apply only to the number of sea otters obtained by these vessels. The 
total number of sea-otter skins received at San Francisco (which is practically all that are taken on 
the coast) in 1888, as reported by the Alaska Commercial Company, was 2,510, largo and small, and 
161 cubs, the whole having a value of $218,625. The number and value of these which can properly 
be assigned to the fisheries of San Francisco are shown elsewhere. 
|| In addition to these figures, the whale fleet took 36 walruses, the hides of which were valued at 
$600, and ivory valued at $998. The gross stock includes $647, the value of 1,176 pounds of walrus ivory, 
taken by 3 vessels. 
