ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 299 



Marcli, and April the conditions ai-e iLsnally better, and larger catches are made. lu 

 May and June the seals are found further to the north, and these are good sealing 

 months; while in July, August and part of September sealing is conducted in Beh- 

 ring Sea. 



Mr. Justice Harlan. — What Section is that? 



Mr. Phelps. — I refer to sections 132, 212, and 282. The one I have 

 read, is, I believe Section 132. 



Captain Claussen testifies as follows : 



Q. When does sealing commence in the Pacific, aud when does it end? A. Sealing 

 couimences in the Pacific about the 1st of January and ends about the 1st of July. . . 

 Q. What percentage of the skins you have taken were cows? A. About80 percent. 

 Q. What percentage of the cows you have taken were with pup? A. About 70 per 

 cent. (U. S. Ca8e,"Vol. II, pp. 411-12.) 



Sir Eichard Webster says they can go ahead of the cruisers that leave 

 port on the 1st of May. They cannot go ahead. 1 have shown that all 

 the seals that are taken in the ISTorth Pacific Ocean by pelagic sealers 

 are 85 per cent females; and of that 85 per cent, the greater proportion 

 are pregnant. 



Now the only point that remains is to show the duration of the time 

 of this pelagic sealing in the North Pacific; that is to say that it goes 

 on from the period of the year when it begin.s — when the weather allows 

 it to begin — in January and February, down to the 1st of July. 



Senator Mgrgan. — Now in January and February, if I understand, 

 they commence 200 or 300 miles down the coast — below at Cape Flat- 

 tery? 



Mr. Phelps. — There is a good deal of evidence of that sort — that 

 they go into Behring Sea about the 1st of July. In very rare instances, 

 as 1 have stated before, the Tables show that a vessel got in the last 

 days of June; but the season continues, in the North Pacific, down to 

 the 1st of July. 



On that point I refer to a number of these witnesses out of a great 

 many that 1 could read. 



Captain Kiernau (at page 450 of the United States Case, Volume II), 



says: 



I usually commence the voyage near the coast of California in the early part of 

 January and continue along up the coast, following the herd to its breeding ground 

 until the latter part of June, hunting all the way and entering Behring Sea about 

 the Ist of July. . . 



Captain Lutjens at page 458 of the United States Case, Volume II, 



says: 



Q. When does sealing commence in the Pacific and when does it end? A. It 

 commences about the 1st of January and ends about the last of June. 



He speaks of four-fifths being females, as they all do. 

 Captain Carthcut, master mariner, at page 400 of the United States 

 Case, Volume II, says: 



I usually left San Francisco in February or March of each year, and sailed along 

 the coast, following the herd north on their way to the breeding grounds on the 

 Pribilof Islands in the Behring Sea. I usually entered the sea. 



that is Behring Sea. 



About the first of July and came out in September. 



Captain McLean, vouched for by the Canadian Inspector of Fisheries 

 as an expert sealer, at pages 436-7 of the United States Case, Volume 

 II, says: 



To my knowledge they (the seals) go into Bering Sea after the 20th of .June. You 

 may take it all the way from April, May aud June; from April all the female seals 

 that you kill are with pup, up to about July 1st. 



