CLXXIV REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



jurisdiction to try tlie oflFense and impose the penalties for the same. The witnesses 

 and proofs necessary to establish tlie offense shall also be sent with them. 



4. In order to facilitate such proper inquiries as Her Majesty's Government may 

 desire to make, with a view to the presentation of the case of that Government 

 before arbitrators, and in expectation that an agreement for arbitration may be 

 arrived at, it is agreed that suitable persons designated by Great Britain will be 

 permitted at any time, upon application, to visit or to remain upon the seal islands 

 during the present sealing season for that purpose. 



Bering Sea was patrolled by a fleet of naval and revenue vessels. 

 The high price of seal skins was a great incentive to engage in pelagic 

 sealing, and some American and Canadian vessels followed the migrat- 

 ing herds into the forbidden waters and ran the risk of seizure and con- 

 fiscation. A number of vessels were seized. 



The submission of the Bering Sea question to arbitration, as sug- 

 gested in the fourth article of the agreement, was secured by the rati- 

 fication by the U. S. Senate on March 29, 1892, of a treaty formulated 

 for that i3uri>ose. This long staudhig diplomatic question has thua 

 reached a stage where its early settlement seems probable. 



The following detailed presentation of the extent and results of this 

 fishery is based on statements furnished to the office by Mr. Henry W. 

 Elliott, who obtained the data from Mr. Albert Fraser, of New York 

 City, the American agent of Messrs. Lampson and the Hudson Bay 

 Company, the English firms which handle nearly all the skins shown. 

 The reports of the department of marine and fisheries of Canada 

 and special inquiries conducted by this division have also supplied 

 additional information. The tables show the operations of the Ameri- 

 can and Canadian vessels during the years 1890 and 1891, the figures 

 for the former year being given for purposes of comparison. In 1890 

 the 15 vessels sailing from United States ports are reported to have 

 taken 14,956 seals, the value of whose skins was $190,689, the average 

 price being $12.75; by far the larger part of the catch was obtained in 

 Bering Sea. Twenty-nine vessels belonging in Canada secured 39,547 

 seals, the value of which, as ascertained from the official Canadian 

 report, was $435,017, an average of $11 per skinj somewhat less than 

 half the catch was obtained in Bering Sea, the remainder coming from 

 the coast in the spring and the passes through which the seals migrate 

 into Bering Sea, the seals killed on these grounds being designated 

 as " spring catch" and " Sand Point catch," respectively. The aggre- 

 gate production was 54,503 seals, with a first value of $625,706. The 

 yield by American vessels in 1891 is designated as "spring catch" and 

 " fall catch." The 30 vessels shown in the table took 14,808 seals, 

 valued at $236,928, an average of $10 per skin. The seals taken by the 

 Canadian vessels in 1891 are separated by fisliing-grounds, as in 1890. 

 Fifty vessels were engaged and 49,863 skins were procured, of which 

 29,100 came from Bering Sea. The official report of the Canadian 

 fisheries department places the value of the catch at $15 a skin, or 

 $747,945 in the aggregate. The combined operations of the vessels of 

 both countries yielded 64,671 skins, worth $984,873. 



