SEAL FISHERIES 



717 



fur market. Other herds of commercial importance resort to the Commander 

 Islands off the Siberian coast, controlled by Russia; Robben Island and the Kuriles, 

 formerly belonging to Japan, but now administered by Russia; Lobos Island be- 

 longing to Uruguay; and to the coastal area and adjacent islands in the vicinity 

 of Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. Remnants of once large herds are still to be 

 found on many of the small islands in the South Atlantic, the Crozet Isles in the 



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{Courtesy V. S. Fish and Wildlife Service) 

 Fig. 34-1. Fur seal harems at the Polovina Rookery, St. Paul Island, Alaska. 



South Indian Ocean, Guadeloupe in the West Indies, and the Galapagos Islands 

 in the Pacific. Tasmania, New Zealand, and Australia still have fur-seal colonies, 

 but these have been so reduced in size that the number of skins now obtained 

 is extremely small. 



Southern Hemisphere, Fur seals of the Southern Hemisphere were the first to be 

 seriously exploited. Beginning about the end of the eighteenth century fur-seal 

 hunting grew rapidly in importance, and early in the nineteenth century it as- 

 sumed gigantic proportions. Sealing first began at the Falkland Islands about 1784, 

 and according to the old accounts "millions were taken during the next fifteen 

 years." Fur seals were present in such numbers that there are records of "eight 

 or nine hundred in a day" being killed with clubs on a single small islet. There 

 are now no fur seals on the Falkland Islands, and they are reported to have become 

 extinct about 1800. 



Sealing voyages were made to the west coast of South Africa as early as 1790. 

 The sealing fleet extended its range to include first the South Georgian rookeries, 

 then successively those off the coast of Chile, Patagonia, Australia, the Antipodes, 

 Crozet and Prince Edward Islands, the South Shetlands, Kerguelen Island, and 

 others of lesser importance. There were approximately 60 vessels in the sealing 

 fleet in 1801. The United States, Great Britain, Portugal, Germany, Russia, and 



