PAST AND FUTURE OF THE FUR SEAL. 369 



mating that spears are less effective than the shotguns allowed in the North Pacific, 

 and that an additional safeguard has therefore been provided in Bering Sea. Just 

 why the shotgun is pernicious in Bering Sea and is not in the North Pacific is not 

 indicated; but if we turn to the testimony of the Northwest coast Indians, who ship 

 on the schooners and accompany them to Bering Sea, we find that they claim that 

 they can do better work with the spear than with the shotgun. The latter makes the 

 game wild, while the former does not. The spear makes no noise, and they are thus 

 able to take seal after seal as they sleep on the water, and get all in sight, while at 

 the sound of a gun's discharge the comrades of the captured or wounded seal swim 

 away. 



It is evident from an inspection of these regulations as a whole that the Tribunal, 

 taking into account the interests of both nations, endeavored to frame measures which, 

 while protecting the seals, would permit the continuation of pelagic sealing. This 

 seems to me a task the accomplishment of which is an impossibility. The evils of 

 pelagic sealing appear to have been clearly recognized by the Tribunal, but instead 

 of adopting prohibitive measures it took the middle course of throwing some protec- 

 tion around the seals and while at the same time appearing to concede something to 

 the pelagic sealers, made the conditions just sufficiently hard as to prevent them from 

 engaging successfully in the business, it is admitted that these regulations possess 

 value in limiting and discouraging pelagic sealing, but their inherent weakness is 

 that, while they now seem to possess some deterring power, changed conditions may 

 at any time arise which will negative their inthience and offer inducements suffi- 

 cient to enable the sealers to again engage in this business on a large and injurious 

 scale. This contingency is not so remote as may appear at first sight. In 1889 the 

 average price paid in Victoria for skins taken at sea was $6.83; in 1890 it had risen 

 to $10.70; in 1891 it was $15. In 1889 the cost of each skin in wages was from $2 to 

 $3; in 1890 and 1891 it was $3.50; in 1892 it was $4. In other words an advancing 

 price for both master and hunter. 



Now, it is evident that it will be some time before the Pribilof Islands can very 

 greatly increase their annual output of skins. The maximum output of the Commander 

 Islands has been reached and probably will have to be decreased in the future. There 

 must be through these regulations some curtailment of the contribution of the sealing 

 schooners, and the result of all this will be that sealskins will demand a higher price. 

 Should that price reach a figure which will compensate for the obstacles which the 

 regulations place in the way of the pelagic sealer, then we will have the changed con- 

 ditions referred to, and pelagic sealing with its attendant evils will go on as before. 

 If there is doubt in the minds of anyone upon this point it is only necessary to turn 

 to the history of the sea otter, which though nearly exterminated, is as eagerly sought 

 after to-day as it ever was, simply because the ever-increasing price the trade is willing 

 to pay for its skin still compensates for the small numbers now taken. There is no 

 reason to believe that the career of the fur seal will be different from that of the sea 

 otter. 



Another possible source of changed conditions lies in the regulations themselves, 

 for they provide, as we have seen, for their own modification every five years, and 

 the pressure will come heaviest from the pelagic sealers' side of the case. Indeed 

 the regulations require that each pelagic sealer — an interested party — shall keep 

 records which are to be made available when the question of modifications of the 



F. C. B. 1893—24 



