CONCURRENT REGULATIONS. 201 



pose to discuss the effects of present pelagic slaughter, because every- 

 one concedes that it is destructive and should be restricted. It is true 

 that this is admitted even by the Commissioners of Great Britain, 

 although they assert that the destruction is in part imputable to execs 

 she killing of males upon the islands; but it is none the less proper 

 that, in the inquiry we are now upon, how soon a destructive method 

 of capture will result incomplete destruction, we should begin with a. 

 degree of it admitted to be speedily fatal. It tends to simplify the in- 

 quiry by drav.ing attention to the point how far any suggested meth- 

 ods of destruction will arrest this fatal destruction of females. 



The problem, of course, is to devise some method of pelagic sealing 

 which will prevent this measure of destruction, or anything approach- 

 ing it. We must here turn our attention to the methods suggested by 

 the British Commissioners. They have exercised their ingenuity to the 

 utmost upon this point, and if the measures proposed by them are in- 

 adequate, we may reasonably infer that no sufficiently effective ones 

 can be devised. The final result of their efforts is embodied in what is 

 termed by them " Specific scheme of Regulations recommended." This 

 is contained in the following paragraphs of their Report: 



in,"). In view of the actual condition of seal life as it presents itself 

 to us at the present time we believe that the requisite degree of protec- 

 tion would be afforded by the application of the following specific limi- 

 tations at shore and at sea: 



(a) The maximum number of seals to be taken on the Pribilof Is- 

 lands to be fixed at 50,000. 



(It) A zone of protected waters to be established, extending to a dis- 

 tance of 20 nautical miles from the islands. 



(c) A close season to be provided, extending from the 15th Septem- 

 ber to the 1st May in each year, during which all killing of seals shall 

 be prohibited, with the additional provision that no sealing vessel shall 

 enter Behring Sea before the 1st July in each year. 



150. Respecting t\\e compensatory feature of such specific regulations, 

 it is believed that a just scale of equivalency as between shore and sea 

 sealing would be found, and a complete check established against any 

 undue diminution of seals, by adopting the following as a unit of com 

 X)ensatory regulation : 



For each decrease of 10,000 in the number fixed for killing on the 

 islands, an increase of 10 nautical miles to be given to the width of 

 protected waters about the islands. The minimum number to lie fixed 

 for killing on the islands to be 10,000, corresponding to a maximum 

 width of protected waters of GO nautical miles. 



157. The above regulations represent measures at sea and ashore 

 sufficiently equivalent for all practical purposes, and probably embody 

 or provide for regulations as applied to sealing on the high seas as 

 stringent as would be admitted by any maritime power, whether di- 

 rectly or only potentially interested. 1 



'Report of Br. Coin., p. 25. 



