400 ALASKAN HERD. 



LOBOS ISLANDS. 



Page 229 of The Case. 



The fur-seal rookery on Lobos Island, off the mouth of the Eio de la 

 Plata and belonging to the Republic of Uruguay, 

 Article by Dr. J. A. Al- is one of the few that have escaped annihilation 

 len, Vol. I, p. 397. at the hands of the seal-hunter. Many fur-seals 



were taken here prior to 1820. Captain Morrell 

 (Voyages, p. 154) found men stationed there to take seals in 1824, and 

 Oapt. Weddell (Voyages, p. 142), writing in 1825, refers to Lobos 

 Island as being farmed out by the Government of Montevideo for seal- 

 ing purposes, under regulations designed to prevent the extermination 

 of the seals. As evidence that the matter has been long managed with 

 discretion may be cited the statistics given in the affidavits of Messrs. 

 Einil Teichmann and Alfred Eraser (of the linn of 0. M. Lampson & 

 (Jo., of London), which show that the catch for the last twenty years 

 has averaged about 13,000 a year, or a total of some 250,000 fur-seal 

 skins. This throws into strong relief the folly of the exterminating 

 slaughter of fur-seals that has been waged unremittingly for nearly a 

 century throughout the southern seas. 



CAPE HORN. 



Page 229 of The Case. 



Argentina also claimed possession of Staten Land at Cape LTorn, and 

 since about 1882 or 1883 we have not been allowed 



Geo. Comer, p. 597. to take seals at that point or in the waters near 

 there, although the citizens of Argentina them- 

 selves have taken seals there every year, as I understand and believe. 



ALASKAN HERD. 



NECESSITY OF ITS PROTECTION. 



Page 239 of The Case. 



5. We are in thorough agreement that for industrial as well as for 

 other obvious reasons it is incumbent upon all na- 



Joint report of Bering tions, and particularly upon those having direct 

 Sea Commission, p. 309 of commercial interests in fur-seals to provide for 

 lhv ' their proper protection and preservation. 



NECESSITY OF ITS PROTECTION. 



Opinions of naturalists. 



Page 240 of The Case. 



14. The results of pelagic sealing may be thus summarized: (1) The 

 immense reduction of the herd at the Pribilof 

 Ih^J. A. Alkn, Vol. I, jslaiids and its threatened annihilation. (2) The 

 extermination of the Pribilof herd will be practi- 

 cally accomplished within a few years if pelagic sealing is continued. 

 (3) There will soon be too few seals left in the North Pacific and Ber- 

 ing Sea to render pelagic sealing commercially profitable. (4) The 

 harm already done can not be repaired in years, even if all sealing, 



