JOINT STATEMENT OF CONCLUSIONS. 241 



Islands iu Bering Sea, viz, oil behalf of the United States, Charles Sumner Hainlin and 

 David Starr Jordan; on behalf of Great Britain, D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson; on 

 behalf of Canada, James Melville Macoun, have met in conference under instructions 

 from our respective Governments. Under these instructions we were directed "to 

 arrive, if possible, at correct conclusions respecting' the numbers, conditions, and 

 habits of the seals frequenting- the Pribilof Islands at the present time as compared 

 with the several seasons previous and subsequent to the Paris award." 



As a result of such conference, now completed, we, the above-named Charles 

 Surnner Hamlin, David Starr Jordan, D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, and James 

 Melville Macouu, find ourselves in accord on the propositions contained in the 

 following joint statement of conclusions respecting the fur-seal herd frequenting the 

 Pribilof Islands, and make this our report : 



JOINT STATEMENT. 



1. There is adequate evidence that since the year 1884, and down to the date of 

 the inspection of the rookeries in 1897, the fur-seal herd of the Pribilof Islands, as 

 measured on either the hauling grounds or breeding grounds, has declined in numbers 

 at a rate varying from year to year. 



2. In the absence for the earlier years of actual counts of the rookeries such as 

 have been made in recent years, the best approximate measure of decline now 

 available is found in these facts : 



(a) About 100,000 male seals of recognized killable age were obtained from the 

 hauling grounds each year from 1871 to 1889. The table of statistics given in 

 Appendix I shows, on the whole, a progressive increase in the number of hauling 

 grounds driven and in the number of drives made, as well as a retardation of the date 

 at which the quota was attained during a number of years previous to 1889. 



(b) In the year 1896, 28,964 killable seals were taken after continuing the driving 

 till July 27, and in 1897, 19,189 after continuing the driving till August II. 1 We have 

 no reason to believe that during the period 1896 and 1897 a very much larger number 

 of males of recognized killable age could have been taken on the hauling grounds. 



The reduction between the years 1896 and 1897 in the number of killable seals 

 taken, while an indication of decrease in the breeding herd, can not be taken as an 

 actual measure of such decrease. A number of other factors must be taken into 

 consideration, and the real measure of decrease must be sought in more pertinent 

 statistics drawn from the breeding rookeries themselves. 



3. From these data it is plain that the former yield of the hauling grounds of the 

 Pribilof Islands was from three to five times as great as in the years 1896 and 1897, 

 and tlie same diminution to one-third or one-fifth of the former product may be 

 assumed when we include also the results of hunting at sea. 



4. The death rate among the young fur seals, especially among the pups, is very 

 great. While the loss among the pups prior to their departure from the islands has 

 been found in the last two years to approach 20 per cent of the whole number born, 

 and though the rate of subsequent mortality is unknown, we may gather from the 



1 The nominal quota of 30,000 for 1896 and of 20,890 for 1897 included food skins taken in the f;ill 

 of 1895 and 1896. (These figures, 28,964 and 19,189, are slightly in error and should read respectively 

 28,365 and 18,961.) 

 15184 16 



