728 MARINE PRODUCTS OF COMMERCE 



in 1938 there were only 8 steamers and 1,459 men engaged in sealing. Several 

 disasters in which 2 sealing steamers were lost in 1940 and 1 in 1943, with diver- 

 sion of others to emergency duties during World War II, brought a further decline 

 to this industry, and in 1946 operations were limited to 1 steamer and 4 small 

 motor vessels of less than 200 tons each. By 1949, however, there were 15 vessels 

 in the Newfoundland fishery, ranging from 68 to 950 tons in size, thus indicating 

 a prompt recovery from war-time conditions. 



The catch of seals through the years has followed a downward trend, parallel- 

 ing that of ships and men employed. Until about 1860 the average annual take of 

 seals was in excess of 500,000. From 1860 until the early part of the twentieth 

 century the catch averaged well above 200,000 annually, but after World War I 

 it dropped to an average of less than 125,000. The catches in 1941, 1942, and 

 1944 were insignificant; the sealing fleet did not operate in 1943 or 1945. With 15 

 vessels operating in 1949 the total take was 135,000 seals, valued at about half a 

 million dollars. 



The principal species taken in the Newfoundland fishery is the harp seal. Of 

 the 1949 take of 135,000 seals 116,000 were harps. Hoods are taken in consider- 

 able numbers and are next in importance. These animals follow fairly definite 

 routes of migration. Late in October they leave the Arctic ice and migrate south 

 as far as the great Ocean Banks off Cape Race. In this migration the harps appear 

 to originate in the vicinity of Hudson Bay, and the hoods come from the Green- 

 land shores, the two species meeting off the Labrador coast. Returning north they 

 again mount the ice in the neighborhood of the Straits of Belle Isle about the end 

 of February. At this time the young are born, and about a month later the hunt 

 begins. Voyages commence early in March. The vessels cruise in a northerly 

 direction, usually first locating the seals in the vicinity of Funks Islands, between 

 50 and 100 miles off the northeastern coast of Newfoundland. The seals, congre- 

 gated in great numbers, are rounded up, prevented from returning to open water, 

 and clubbed over the head. When all the seals are killed, the hunters remove the 

 skins with the adhering layers of blubber and drag them back to be packed into 

 the hold of the ship. When a full cargo is obtained, the vessel returns to its home 

 port, where the skins are unloaded, the blubber removed, and the hides prepared 

 for manufacture into leather (Chapter 25). 



Hair seals do not have the fine under-fur that characterizes fur seals, and com- 

 paratively little use is made of these skins in clothing. The oil extracted from the 

 blubber is used as a lubricant in the leather industry and in soap manufacture. 



The hair-seal fishery of Jan Mayen Island ranks second to that of Newfound- 

 land, and was prosecuted by vessels from England, Norway, and Germany. The 

 catch never equalled that of Newfoundland, and signs of depletion developed 

 early. Despite attempts at regulation, this fishery was seriously depleted by the 

 end of the last century. Substantial catches are made annually at Novaya Zemlya 

 and in the White and Caspian Seas. Many hair seals are taken annually along the 

 Alaskan and Siberian coasts of the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans by natives 

 for food and clothing; no commercial fishery of any consequence is carried on in 

 these waters. Bounties are offered for destruction of the harbor seals in parts of 

 Alaska and in some of the Pacific Coast states, where they occur in sufficient num- 

 bers to be considered a menace to the various species of food fish of commercial 

 importance. 



