FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1909. 
55 
Muskrat . — This animal appears to be increasing in numbers in the 
Yukon Valley. The natives use many of the skins in barter with 
other tribes, the greater part being made into clothing, blankets, or 
robes. Some of the others are made into small articles to be sold to 
tourists. The outside demand for Alaska muskrat is increasing each 
year. This year’s shipments comprised 121,568 skins, an increase of 
89,856 skins over 1908, when only 31,712 were shipped. 
Land otter . — There has been a small increase in the catch of land 
otter, 1,333 having been taken in 1908, while 1,493 were taken in 
1909, a gain of 160. 
Sea otter . — But one vessel, the schooner Everett Rays , owned by 
Mr. Samuel Applegate, of Unalaska, fitted out for sea-otter hunting 
in 1909. She hunted from May 16 to August 27 and had very rough 
weather. Her catch was 17 skins, all of which were secured in por- 
tions of six days, covering a period from July 10 to 26. 
The Atka natives secured 4 skins near Tanaga Island, in the Aleu- 
tian chain. Mr. Charles Rosenberg, who patrols a stretch of some 
30 miles of beach on the Bering Sea side of Unimak Island on the 
lookout for the washing ashore of dead sea otter, secured none this 
year. 
In addition to the catch shown above, 16 skins were secured in 
various ways and places and shipped out of Alaska, making a total 
of 37 skins in all, an increase of 5 over 1908. 
The British Columbia pelagic sealing fleet, which has been devot- 
ing considerable attention of late to sea-otter hunting off the Alaska 
coast, secured 18 skins this year, and it is very probable that the 
Japanese pelagic sealing fleet also secured a few skins, although 
there has been no report received as to the number taken. 
Fur seal . — This year 397 fur-seal skins were taken by the Indians 
in southeast Alaska and sold at a price aggregating $7,383 (price 
paid the hunters and not the London price). These skins, with the 
14,368 shipped from the Pribilof Islands, make a total of 14,765 fur- 
seal skins shipped from Alaska in 1909. 
Outside of the Pribilof Islands, Sitka is the only place on the 
Pacific coast of the United States from which fur-sealing operations 
of any consequence are carried on. Under the law, seal hunting is 
restricted to Indians, white citizens not being permitted to engage 
in it. ^ 
The only time that the herd visits the neighborhood of Sitka is in 
April and May, when on its way to the Pribilof Islands, in Bering 
Sea, to breed. About the middle of April the Indian hunters, 
with their families, leave for the hunting grounds and establish their 
camps on Tava, Wrangell, and Biorka islands, small islands a few 
miles from Sitka. This year 18 boat parties had their headquarters 
on Tava Island, 7 on Wrangell Island, and 9 on Biorka Island. Each 
