312 CAUSE. 



Scarcity of seal can be attributed to no other cause than pelagic 

 hunting and the indiscriminate shooting of seals 



Jno. C. Tolman,p. 222. in the open sea, both in the North Pacific and 

 Bering Sea. 



I am sure the decrease is caused by the killing of female seals in the 



open sea, and that if their destruction by the in- 



Chas. T. Wagner, j). 212. discriminate killing in the open sea is permitted 



to continue it will only be a very short time until 



the herd will be entirely destroyed. 



And I have no doubt that it is caused by the killing of female seals 

 M.L. Washburn p. 489. in the water, and, if continued, will certainly end 

 ' ' 'in their extermination. 



I am convinced that if open-sea sealing had never been indulged in 

 to the extent it has since 1885 or perhaps a year 



Dan'l Webster, p. 183. or two earlier, 100,000 male skins could have been 

 taken annually forever from the Pribilof Islands 

 without decreasing the seal herd below its normal size and condition. 

 The cause of the decrease which has taken place can be accounted for 

 only by open-sea sealing; for, until that means of destruction to seal 

 life grew to be of such proportions as to alarm those interested in the 

 seals, the seal herd increased, and since that time the decrease of the 

 number of seals has been proportionate to the increase in the number 

 of those engaged in open-sea sealing. 



From 1884 to 1891 I saw their numbers decline, under the same care- 

 ful management, until in the latter year there was not more than one- 

 fourth of their numbers coming to the islands. In my judgment there 

 is but one cause for that decline and the present condition of the rook- 

 eries, and that is the shotgun and rifle of the pelagic hunter, and it is 

 my opinion that if the lessees had not taken a seal on the islands for 

 the last ten years we would still find the breeding grounds in about the 

 same condition as they are to-day, so destructive to seal life are the 

 methods adopted by these hunters. 



Deponent, by reason of his experience in the business, his observa- 

 tion, conversations with those physically engaged 

 G.A. Williams, p. 538. in catching and curing skins, and the custody of 

 herds on the islands, feels justified in expressing 

 the opinion that the numbers of the seal herds have, since the intro- 

 duction of the open-sea sealing on a large scale, suffered serious diminu- 

 tion. The killing of large numbers of females heavy with young can 

 not, in deponent's knowledge, but have that effect. 



Futhermore, I made careful inquiry of the people on the islands, both 

 native and white, and of those who were or had 



W. H. Williams, p. 93. been employed as masters or mates on sealing 

 vessels, and others interested one way or another 

 in the capture of fur-seals for food or for profit, and failed to find any 

 of them but who admitted that the number of seals in the Bering Sea 

 was much less now than a few years since, and nearly all of them gave 

 it as their opinion that the decrease in number was due to pelagic hunt- 

 ing, or, as they more frequently expressed it, the killing of females in 

 the water. 



