288 EVIDENCE OF DECREASE 



I think I noticed fewer seals that year than I did in 1889. Seals 



along the coast are not near as plentiful now as 



Thos. Lowe, p. 371. they were when I first began to hunt them. I 



used to catch 9 or 10 seals in one day; but they 



are so shy, and so scarce now, that a canoe does not get that many in 



a mouth. 



Have noticed a decrease in seal along the coast, and it is the 

 general opinion that they are decreasing very 

 J. D. McDonald, p. 266. fast. 



Q. Have you noticed any decrease in the quantity of seals in the last 

 few years over what it was a few years formerly? — 

 Alexander McLean, p. A j j iave no ti C ed a decrease since I have been in 

 thebusiness ; I have made a catch from 3,500, coin- 

 ing down to l,5u0, a little less than one-half. 

 Q. You do not consider there are nearly as many seals now as there 

 used to be in the water?— -A. JSTo, sir; not now. I have been in the 

 business for ten years, and I think in another ten years there will be a 

 great deal less. 



The seals were not nearly as plentiful in 1891 as 

 • Thos. Madden, p. 463. they were in 18S8. I think they are decreasing 

 rapidly. 



There are not near as many hunters hunting seal as there used to be, 

 for the seal are decreasing very fast. I know, be- F re d>k Mason p. 284. 

 cause I am hunting seal all the time. 



The hunters say the seals are getting scarcer 

 Wm. Mason, p. 466. all the time, and that it does not pay to go unless 

 they get more for a skin. 



Thorwal Mathasan, p. I think the seals are not so plentiful on the 

 ^ 39 - coast as last year. * * * 



Seals did not seem to be near as plentiful as last year. 



They were formerly found in this region in great numbers, but of 



late years they have been constantly diminishing, 



^Metry Monin et al., p. mvj]| \, t() the uumber f 8ea ling vessels engaged 



in killing them. 



Q. Have you noticed any decrease in the quantity of animals in the 

 last few years? — A. There is no doubt but what 

 Frank Moreau, p. 468. there is a decrease. 



Jno. Morris, p. 340. Seals are scarcer now than in former years. 



When I was in the sea in 1887 seals were very plentiful there, but in 

 1889 there were not so many, and in 1891 there 

 Moses, p. 310. were fewer s till. 



When I was a small boy fur-seal used to come into Clarence Straits, 

 but it has been a good many years now since any 

 smith Natch, p. 298. f UI -seal have been seen there. 



