PELAGIC SEALING THE SOLE CAUSE OPINIONS. 311 



can be no question as to the cause of the diminution. It is the direct 

 result of pelagic sealing - , and the same destruction, if continued a few 

 years longer, will entirely dissipate any commercial value in the rook- 

 eries, if it does not, indeed, annihilate them. 



In my opinion the solution of the problem is plain. It is the shotgun 

 and the ritle of the pelagic hunter which are so 

 destructive to the cow seals as they go backwards L. A. Noyes, p. 84. 

 and forwards to the fishing banks to supply the 

 waste caused by giving nourishment to their young. 



At this time they are destroyed by thousands, and their young of 

 but a few weeks old must necessarily die of starvation, for nature has 

 provided no other means of subsistence for them at this time of life. 



Q. How do you account for it? — A. By the J. C. Bedpath, p. no. 

 numbers, principally females, that are killed in 

 the waters by marauders. 



I saw no diminution of seal life during my three years on the island. 

 The outlines of the rookeries remained just about 

 the same from year to year. I was told at the Leon Sloss, p. 91. 

 time that there had formerly been a large in- 

 crease, and did not then understand why it did not continue, as every 

 condition seemed favorable for it. There were, apparently, an abun- 

 dance of bulls for service; every cow seemed to have a pup and all were 

 healthy and in good condition. No females were killed, and in the 

 natural order of growth there ought to have been at this time a con- 

 stantly increasing area covered with breeding rookeries. Yet such 

 was not the case. The explanation of the matter came later when we 

 fairly awoke to the fact that our animals were being slaughtered by 

 tens of thousands in the North Pacific. 1 knew in a commercial way 

 from our sales catalogue that a very large number of " Victoria skins," 

 as they were called, were being sent to market, and that this number 

 grew constantly larger; but I did not then know, as I now do, that 

 each skin sold represented a waste of two or three and perhaps even 

 four or five seals to obtain it. Nor was any attention given to the now 

 well-known fact that these animals were a part of our herd, as wrong- 

 fully stolen from us, I believe, as my cattle would be if driven in and. 

 appropriated from the highway when lawfully feeding. 



Since my residence on the Pribilof Islands I have kept a very careful 

 watch of the progress of events there, and have 

 interviewed a great many connected with the seal W. B. Taylor, p. 177. 

 industry. 1 am of the conviction that the reported 



decrease in seal life on these islands can be attributed to no other cause 

 save pelagic sealing. While I was located at St. George Island in 1881 

 pelagic sealing was then and previous to that time had been of very 

 little consequence, having very slight effect upon seal life. Not more 

 than four or five vessels were engaged in pelagic sealing in 1881 in the 

 waters of Bering Sea, and prior to that time a still fewer number were 

 so engaged. But since 1881 this industry has grown yearly until now 

 about a hundred vessels are destroying the seals in great numbers, and, 

 as I am informed and believe, the great majority of those killed are 

 females. Then, too, large numbers are killed in this way which are 

 never recovered nor reported. 



