CHAPTER XVII. 



THE REMEDY FOR THE DECLINE OF THE HERD. 



We have thus covered the first three divisions of our subject. We have found 

 the seal herd diminished to between one-fifth and one-sixth of its original size and 

 still declining. The cause of this decline is simply and solely the slaughter of females 

 at sea. The imminence of the danger thus threatened to the herd may be judged by 

 the extent of the loss which has already been inflicted and by the fact that at the 

 present time the herd is commercially ruined both on land and at sea. The regulations 

 provided for the protection and preservation of the herd are utterly ineffective. 



REVISION OF THE REGULATIONS NOT ADEQUATE. 



The fourth division of our inquiry must therefore be short. It follows, of course, 

 that some radical change is necessary. This can not be brought about by alterations 

 in the present regulations or the substitution of new ones. It is not a question of the 

 regulation of pelagic sealing, but of its abolition and the cessation of all traffic in the 

 skins of females. The nature of the problem is such that the killing of seals at 

 sea in any form and under any restrictions that can be made effective is wholly 

 incompatible with the preservation and restoration of the herd. 



PELAGIC SEALING CAN NOT EXIST WITHOUT THE KILLING OF FEMALES. 



It is impossible to distinguish the sex of the animals at sea and so exempt the 

 females. It is immaterial whether the animal is shot or speared, so long as it is killed. 

 It makes no difference whether the female is killed when heavy with young on the 

 migrations or whether she is left to bring forth her young and is then killed, leaving 

 the young to starve. The herd could be commercially ruined in the single month of 

 August on its feeding grounds in Bering Sea, even if all other sealing were prohibited. 

 If Bering Sea were fully closed, the concentration of the operations of the fleet off' 

 the Northwest Coast would be sufficient to maintain the continued, though perhaps 

 slower, decline of the herd. So long as pelagic sealing exists in any form or at any 

 time or place, females will be killed, and their continued slaughter means the ultimate 

 destruction of the herd, biologically as well as commercially. 



THE TOTAL PROHIBITION OF PELAGIC SEALING THE ONLY REMEDY. 



In a word, there is no remedy for the present decline of the herd, nor hope for its 

 restoration and preservation, except in the absolute and permanent prohibition of 

 pelagic sealing. 



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