 By around 1960, the Fish and Wildlife Service had transferred many of its patrol boats to the State of Alaska and refocused its resources on its scientific mission.On 21 April 1910, the United States Congress assigned the responsibility for the management and harvest of northern fur seals, foxes, and other fur-bearing animals in the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, as well as for the care, education, and welfare of the Aleut communities in the islands, to the Bureau of Fisheries.Initially the Bureau chartered commercial vessels to transport passengers and cargo to, from,and between the Pribilofs, but by 1915 it had decided that a more cost-effective means of serving the islands would be to own and operate its own "Pribilof tender," a dedicated cargo liner responsible for transportation to, from, and between the islands.