ARGUMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



99 



annnal averages given by the Commissioners, none of these United states 

 figures are correct. The following corrected Tables are counter- case, 

 therefore presented to take the place of those given in the ^^^"^"'^'^■p- '*^^- 

 United States Counter-Case: 



Tables of Catches. 

 SPRING AND COAST CATCHES. 



Year. 



1?89. 

 18'J0. 

 1891. 



Totals and averages for three years . 



Number 



Vess'els. of S^ins. 



22 12, 371 

 29 21, 390 



42 I 20,727 



93 54,488 



A verase 

 Number 



per 

 Vessel. 



562 

 7-J7 

 493 



586 



Average 

 Number 

 per Day. 



4.3 



5.4 

 3.6 



B EH RING SEA CATCHES. 



121 But when it is attempted to deduce an average Pages 93, 94. 



take per diem for each vessel from these figures, 

 several important considerations are lost sight of It is 

 particularly to be noted that the conditions are such that 

 the sealing voyages made to the south of the Strait of Fuca 

 in the winter and early spring would not in themselves be United states 

 remunerative. They are made because no other occupation Appo",uxV*p'jr.' 

 offers for the sealing- vessels, while a certain advantage is 246, 217. 

 to be gained by going early to sea, and thus securing the 

 pick of the pelagic liunters. The diagram facing p. 22 of 

 the British Commissioners' Report illustrates this very 

 clearly. The circumstances are furtlier explained in para. 

 5<S3, and in para. 132 of tlie same Report, where it is shown 

 that only the months of May and June are those in which 

 large numbers of skins have so far usually been taken out- 

 side Behring Sea. Thus, a daily average based on the 

 whole time during which a sealingvessel is at sea, of which 

 time some months are, as a rule, barely remunerative, does 

 not afJord any fair coni])arison of the number of seals taken 

 in a given number of days without and within Behring 

 Sea, nor of the "dcstructiveness" of the catch in the two 

 areas. Unfortuimtely, the methods of conducting the 

 industry have not enabled data to be obtained ui)on which 

 a comparative Table of monthly catches of seals at sea can 

 be drawn up. 



The third proposition formulated by the United States 

 for rebuttal is: 



Page 04. 



