322 cause. 



Have noticed that seal are becoming very scarce on the coast the last 

 few years. The cause of the scarcity of the seal, 

 Peter Church,}). 257. I think, is that too many schooners in the North 

 Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, and the indis- 

 criminate killing of females with pup in the water. 



Q. Has there been any decrease in the quantity of seals as com- 

 pared to the previous years'? — A. I think there 

 Dan'l Clawsen, p. 412. has. 



Q. If there is a decrease, to what do you attribute it? — A. To the 

 killing and hunting of them by seal hunters. 



I think the indiscriminate killing of seals in Be- 

 Jno. C. Clement, p. 258. ring Sea is the cause of their scarcity along the 

 coast. 



There were not nearly as many seals to be found in 1889 as there 

 were in 1888. I think the decrease is caused by 



Peter Collins, p. 413. the great destruction of females killed in the sea 

 by the hunters. 



Leander Cox, p. 417. I attribute this decrease [of the seal herd] to the 



terrible slaughter of female seals now going on in 

 the sea. 



There can be but one cause for the scarcity of seal, and that is the 

 indiscriminate killing of them in the water, and 

 Wm. Duncan, p. 279. unless that is stopped the seal must soon be ex- 

 terminated. The sea-otter, which were plentiful 

 on this coast at one time, are now scarcely seen at all, and the indis- 

 criminate slaughter of them in the water has almost entirely extermi- 

 nated the animal. Some few remain in the far north, but they are very 

 hard to secure. 



Until hunting and killing was commenced by hunters in the open 

 sea I observed no appreciable decrease in the 

 M. c. Ersk'rne, p. 422. number arriving, which was about 1884. In my 

 opinion the chasing of the seals and the shooting 

 of them has a tendency to frighten them and disturb them and pre- 

 vents their increasing as they would if they were left undisturbed in 

 the waters. 



The large decrease of seals in the waters of the ocean and sea must 



unquestionably be caused by the indiscriminate 



M. C. ErsMne,p. 423. killing now going on by poaching schooners, and 



if not discontinued it will most certainly be a 



matter of a very few years before the seals will be exterminated. 



The seals have most decidedly decreased in number, caused by 

 the continual hunting and killing in the open 

 sea. 



F. F. Feeny, />. 220. 



1 give them four years more, and if they keep on hunting them as 



,, , they do now, there will be no more seals left 



Geo. boael, p. 124. ,i • Cl _ * * * 



■ ' * worth going after. * * * 



