AMERICA'S SURPASSING FISHERIES 



549 



sperm, right, and bow-head whales that 

 supported the fishery in early years have 

 been very scarce and their pursuit has 

 been unprofitable ; and the present im- 

 portance of the whale fishery, amounting 

 in value to less than 2 per cent of the 

 American fisheries, depends on the tak- 

 ing from shore stations of species of 

 whales that formerly were for the most 

 part neglected. 



The glory of the whale fishery has de- 

 parted forever, and the commercial, if 

 not the biological, extinction of all kinds 

 of whales is proceeding rapidly, unde- 

 terred and unlamented by the principal 

 maritime powers. 



THE ALASKAN SEAL HERD RESTORED 



The Bureau of Fisheries is the official 

 custodian of the most valuable herd of 

 animals that any government of the 

 world possesses. This is the herd of fur 

 seals which roam over the eastern side of 

 the north Pacific Ocean and return for 

 breeding purposes to the Pribilof* Is- 

 lands. After being sadly decimated by 

 indiscriminate slaughter at sea, the herd 

 has been rapidly recuperating under the 

 influence of an international agreement, 

 and soon the fur seals may be as numer- 

 ous as when they came into the posses- 

 sion of the United States Government 

 with the purchase of Alaska. 



The fact that the only land to which 

 these animals ever resort is two islets in 

 Bering Sea belonging to the United 

 States gives our government a claim to 

 possession such as is exercised over no 

 other wild creatures of water, land, or 

 air. This governmental ownership or 

 jurisdiction is the only- reason why the 

 fur seal has not long ago succumbed to 

 the fate that is rapidly overtaking all the 

 other large marine animals. 



In the summer of 191 6 more than 

 100,000 young seals will have been added 

 to the Alaskan seal herd, whose total 

 strength will then be upward of 400.000 

 individuals of all classes. For some years 

 only a limited number of seals have been 

 utilized for the food purposes of the na- 

 tives ; but after the present close-time law 



* See "Making the Fur Seal Abundant," by 

 Hugh M. Smith, in the National Geographic 

 Magazine for December, 191 1. 



expires, in 1917, there will be available 

 for commercial use many young male 

 seals, which add nothing to the reproduc- 

 tive capacity of the herd and may prop- 

 erly be utilized for their skins and other 

 products. 



In fact, the seal herd may be managed 

 after the manner of a herd of cattle or 

 sheep, and if handled in a strictly scien- 

 tific way will add to the Federal treasury 

 a very handsome revenue, which will in- 

 crease yearly as long as the existing in- 

 ternational arrangement continues. 



Meanwhile a revolution will have 

 occurred in the world's fur-seal trade, 

 for the Department of Commerce has 

 changed the old order of things, and, for 

 the first time, this American product, be- 

 longing to the American public and most 

 largely used by American women, will be 

 sold in an American market, instead of 

 being sent abroad for sale ; and the pecu- 

 liar dressing and dyeing process, which 

 is necessary to bring out the beautiful 

 qualities of the Alaskan sealskin, will 

 likewise have been brought from abroad 

 and established in America. 



THL ASTONISHING FISH LIFE OF OUR 

 COASTAL AND INTERIOR WATERS 



To give a mere list of the American 

 fresh-water and salt-water fishes which 

 support important industries would re- 

 quire several printed pages, for there are 

 few, if any, countries that can boast of a 

 larger variety of highly valuable fishes. 



Every person familiar with the north 

 Atlantic coast will recall the prominent 

 place occupied by the cod, haddock, hake, 

 pollock, halibut, mackerel, bluefish, her- 

 ring, squeteague, sea - bass, scup, and 

 swordfish, all of which are staple foods. 

 On the south Atlantic seaboard the major 

 food fishes are the mullet, croaker, spot, 

 Spanish mackerel, in addition to the blue- 

 fish and squeteague. In the Gulf of 

 Mexico the mullet and red snapper hold 

 front rank among a host of excellent 

 species. The Pacific coast supports a 

 great profusion of flounders and rock- 

 fishes, and, to the northward, cod. hali- 

 but, and herring in extraordinary abun- 

 dance. 



The migratory fishes of our seaboard 

 streams are not equaled in abundance, 



