274 EVIDENCE OF DECREASE 



In 1889 it was quite difficult for the lessees to obtain their full quota 

 of 100,000 shins; so difficult was it, in fact, that in order to turn off a suf- 

 ficient number of four and five years old males from the hauling grounds 

 for breeding purposes in the future, the lessees were compelled to take 

 about 50,000 skins of seals of one or two years of age. I at ouce reported 

 this fact to the Secretary of the Treasury, and advised the taking of a 

 less number of skins the following year. Pursuant to such report the 

 Government fixed upon the number to be taken as 60,000, and further 

 ordered that all killing of seals upon the islands should stop after the 

 20th day of July. I was further ordered that I should notify the natives 

 upon the Aleutian Islands that all killing of seals while coming from 

 or going to the seal islands was prohibited. These rules and regula- 

 tions went into effect in 1890, and pursuant thereto 1 posted notices 

 for the natives at various points along the Aleutian chain, and saw 

 that the orders in relation to the time of killing and number allowed 

 to be killed were executed upon the islands. As a result of the en- 

 forcement of these regulations, the lessees were unable to take more 

 than 21,238 seals of the killable age of from 1 to 5 years during the 

 season of 1890, so great had been the decrease of seal life in one year, 

 and it would have been impossible to obtain 00,000 skius even if the 

 time had been unrestricted. 



The Table A* appended to this affidavit shows how great had been 

 the decrease on St. Paul Islands hauling grounds, 

 Chas. J. Goff, j). 112. bearing in mind the fact that the driving and kill- 

 ing was done by the same persons as in former 

 years, and was as diligently carried on, the weather being as favorable 

 as in 1889 for seal-driving. I believe that the sole cause of the decrease 

 is pelagic sealing, which from reliable information I understand to 

 have increased greatly since 1884 or 1885. Another fact I have gained 

 from reliable .sources is that the great majority of the seals taken in 

 the open sea are pregnant females or females in milk. It is an unques- 

 tionable fact that the killing of these females destroys the pups they 

 are carrying or nursing. The result is that this destruction of pups 

 takes about equally from the male and female increase of the herd, and 

 when so many male pups are killed in this manner, besides the 100,000 

 taken on the islands, it necessarily affects the number of killable seals. 

 In 1889 this drain upon male seal life showed itself on the islands, and 

 this, in my opinion, accounts for the necessity of the lessees taking so 

 many young seals that year to fill out their quota. 



As soon as the effects of pelagic sealing were noticed by me upon the 

 islands I reported the same, and the Government at once took steps to 

 limit the killing upon the islands, so that the rookeries might have an 

 opportunity to increase their numbers to their former condition ; but 

 it will be impossible to repair the depletion if pelagic sealing continues. 

 I have no doubt, as I reported, that the taking of 100,000 skins in 1889 

 affected the male life on the islands, and cut into the reserve of male 

 seals necessary to preserve annually for breeding purposes in the fu- 

 ture, but this fact did not become evident until it was too late to re- 

 pair the fault that year. Except for the numbers destroyed by pelagic 

 sealing in the years previous to 1889 the hauling grounds wonldnot have 

 been so depleted, and the taking of 100,000 male seals would not have 

 impaired the reserve for breeding purposes or diminished to any ex- 

 tent the seal life on the Pribilof Islands. Even in this diminished 



* See "Dependence ou Alaskan Herd," under "The Seal-bkin Industry" for this 

 table. 



