ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



703 



Page 318 : The charge of " overdriving," here put forward as the cause 

 of the decrease in the fur seal, is wholly without foundation. The fol- 

 lowing statistics regarding the taking of seals on land are pertinent: 



Sfatistics re(jardinfj land and sea killing, 1871-1890. 



Year. 



Date 

 quota 

 filled. 



1871 



1872 

 1873 

 1874 

 1875 

 187« 

 1877 

 1878 

 1879 

 1880 

 1881 

 1882 

 188:i 

 188-4 

 1885 

 ISKG 

 1887 

 1888 

 188'J 

 1890 



July 28 



Aug 

 Jiil.V 



17 

 IG 

 16 

 U 



18 



in 



17 

 20 



2G 

 24 

 27 

 31 

 20c 



Hauling 

 grounds 

 driven. 



46 



43 



51 



Gl 



55 



36 



44 



54 



71 



78 



99 



8G 



81 



101 



106 



117 



101 



102 



110 



87 



Number 

 ol'drivea. 



Killed 



on 

 land, a 



102, 960 

 108,819 

 109, 177 

 110, 585 

 lOG, 4G() 



94, 657 



84, 310 



109, 323 



110,411 



105. 718 



105, 003 



99.812 



79, 509 



105,434 



105, 024 



104, 521 



105,760 



103, 304 

 102, GI 7 



28, 059 



Killed 

 at sea. 



16,911 

 5, 336 



5,229 

 5, 873 

 5, 033 

 5,515 

 5, 210 

 . 5,544 

 8, 557 

 8,418 

 10,382 



15, 551 



16, 557 

 16,971 

 23, 040 

 28, 494 

 30, 628 

 26, 189 

 29, 853 

 40, 814 



a Contains all males, including pups, killed for any purpose. 



h Season said to be late. 



c Closed by order of Treasury agent. 



From this table it will be seen that nothing abnormal occurred in the 

 driving of the seals. It was not until 1884, when pelagic sealing had 

 trebled its catch and was in its most destructive stage, that any marked 

 increase in the driving began. This trebling of the catch in 1882 so 

 affected the birthrate of that season that in 1885 it was difficult to get 

 the required number of skins, and the drives were increased from 42, 

 or a preceding average of 36, to 03. Subsecjuent to this date the num- 

 ber of drives increased steadily, and the date at which the quota was 

 filled as steadily receded. The reason for this growing scarcity of 

 killable seals, as evidenced by difficulty in securing them on the haul- 

 ing grounds, is to be found in the rapid increase of the pelagic catch 

 with and after 1885. That there was no diminution in the actual num- 

 ber of animals taken is due to the fact that smaller and smaller seals 

 were killed until, all the normal 3-year olds being exhausted, 2-year olds 

 and finally yearlings were taken. The increase in the number of haul- 

 ing grounds driven, from and after 1879 may show the effects of the 

 slight increase in the pelagic catch in that year, or it m'ay mean simply 

 the shifting of the bachelors and their more general distribution among 

 the rookeries. 



These figures show plainly enough that there is no truth in the theory 

 of increased driving, and it is equally clear from the recorded pelagic 

 catch that the second cause of inquiry, here barely mentioned by Mr. 

 Elliott, is an efficient cause of the decline in the herd. 



Page 310 : The falsity of the statement here reiterated, of the sending 

 of sealing gangs ''miles and miles away to hitherto undisturbed fields," 

 is amply refuted by the recorded daily killings already mentioned. 

 Mr. Elliott goes on to say that he was now able to " see what the effect 

 of driving overland is upon the physical well being of a normal fur 

 seal." From this he draws certain conclusions regarding the lack of 

 adaptation to ''land locomotion over rough, sharj) rocks, rolling clinker 



