8 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 
OPENING OF PART OF BERING SEA TO PELAGIC SEALING, 
By the provisions of the recent treaty of arbitration, pelagic sealing 
will hereafter be permitted in Bering Sea after August 1 of each year 
outside of a radius of 60 miles from the Pribilof Islands. Notwithstand- 
ing that the use of firearms will be prohibited, the opportunity afforded 
by this privilege is likely to produce a very serious effect upon the seal 
herd belonging to the several rookeries whenever the vessels find con- 
tinuous good weather. Seals, when in the water, can readily be killed 
by means of spears, and they are regularly taken in this manner by 
most of the Indian seal hunters of the Northwest Coast. Many sailing 
vessels have been accustomed to carry Indian spear hunters with their 
canoes in preference to the white hunters, who use guns and boats, and 
we may expect to see full advantage taken of the former method in the 
free waters of Bering Sea. The open season for seals coming, as it does, 
at the close of the sea-otter season, will also make available the entire 
force of Alaskan spear-throwing hunters, who will be the more eager to 
take advantage of the new privilege, in view of the recent restrictions 
placed upon otter hunting and the present scarcity of otters. The 
apparatus employed in the latter fishery is likewise largely adapted to 
the pursuit of seals. After the month of August, however, the weather 
soon becomes unsettled and stormy, thus somewhat limiting the period 
when pelagic sealing can safely be carried on. 
Observations made upon the distribution of seals in Bering Sea 
between July 28 and August 15, 1892, by the steamer Corwin, showed 
conclusively that the nursing seals travel distances of at least 200 miles 
from the Pribilof Islands in search of food, and consequently that the 
closed area about those islands, having a radius of only 60 miles, affords 
them only a very partial protection. The effect of killing large num- 
bers of these females, which must certainly take place, means also the 
destruction of their pups on shore through starvation and the more 
rapid thinning out of the herds upon the rookeries than has hitherto 
occurred. The complete protection of the fur seal in Bering Sea, 
together with such restrictions upon its killing in the North Pacific 
Ocean as have been provided by the treaty of arbitration, would no 
doubt permit a steady increase upon the rookeries where it breeds, 
but its pursuit in any manner within part of the area it occupies as a 
feeding ground during the breeding season may be expected to have a 
disastrous effect upon the breeding rookeries of the Pribilof Islands. 
List of the maps showing the outlines of the rookeries on the Pribilof Islands, 1893.) 
ST. PAUL ISLAND. 
Nontheastweomimooker yess 22 espa ecb cae S405 hay k es 2 es os Chart A 
LEXIE Thy TROYON COTA tes Coke pe Sia tk a ae ee eRe ea a gar RSET SENT EL. Chart B 
Kepanderan dale man mMONuMOOKCGIESH ase 5 bole oo cee cine oo hoe ee eee Chart C 
ReehwandGarbouchmookertes sees «sens ek ek ect ee a eee Chart D 
TNolstomanGdewaToonerookerleseee eas seccie - ook Nek Ae Mat, Es ea Chart E 
Zapadnie and: Enoelish Bay rookéries...-....-....--.-...22.....206- Charts F and G 
ST. GEORGE ISLAND. 
NUAL YP AUeCe lin OOKED seme cys ery wala Sane Sols se cic a els oe Soca e eee mee Chart H 
INODUITO OOTY: se eee ye eee ene ta yoele ener ee war melts AES UR tae BA Eee Chart I 
HastandaiitlenWastmookericspoaa. tock causes os 2 Solo SAIS ere a oe eee Chart J 
Za PAGHIE MOOe Ry veer ee meee a eter sia oi iaae mien te ets Sores. usin 2! Dos ey Chart K 
1 This set of maps not transmitted for publication, the accompanying set for 1895, 
showing more reduced area of rookeries, being deemed sufficient. 
