450 



ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



The cause of the decrease in number found on the islands is now 

 universally admitted to be the. killing of female seals. As no female 

 seals have been killed on the islands since 1834, it follows that the fall- 

 ing off is caused by pelagic sealing. From 1875 to 1880 vessels occa- 

 sionally took seals at sea, but the number caught was insignificant. By 

 1880 the vessels engaged amounted to 16 ; in 1886, the fleet had increased 

 to 34, and for the first time entered Bering Sea and commenced taking 

 seals. The subsequent history is well known; the seizures and pro- 

 tests finally culminated in the treaty with G^reat Britain, the Paris 

 Tribunal, and the award providing regulations under which pelagic 

 sealing is now carried on. 



The following table gives the number of seals killed at sea from 1868 

 to 1894, inclusive, dividing the catch into localities, as far as possible; 

 also giving the number of vessels employed. 



The figures prior to 1891 contain some seals killed on the Asiatic 

 coast. It is not possible to distinguish such seals, however, from those 

 killed on the eastern side of Bering Sea and the Korth Pacific Ocean, 

 forming part of the Alaskan or American herd. 



This table was compiled from the figures in the British and American 

 cases before the Paris Tribunal and subsequent corrections taken from 

 official reports and the official returns of the Loudon trade sales : 



Totals by localities. 



From the above it will be seen that the pelagic catch of the past sea- 

 son of 1894, the first year in which the regulations of the Paris award 

 were applicable, was the most destructive in the history of pelagic seal- 

 ing, the total killcid reaching 55,686, and, including undetermined skins, 

 62,522, as against only 15,033 killed on the islands. 



From 1880 to 1894 the pelagic catch increased from 8,910 to 55,686, or 

 624 per cent, while the Pribilof Island catch decreased from 105,718 to 

 15,033, or 86 per cent. 



