498 ALASKAN HERD. 



Q. Is it your opinion, if sealing continues unrestricted, that they will 

 soon be exterminated? — A. They will, in my opin- 

 Geo. Ball, p. 483. ion, not be entirely exterminated should sealing 



continue there as usual, but it will make the busi- 

 ness of seal -catching so unprofitable that no one will desire to engage 

 in it, I think. 



It is only a question of three or four years, if this indiscriminate 

 slaughtering of seals is not stopped, they will be- 

 Mariin Benson, p. 405. CQme exterminated. 



It is not alone in Bering Sea that the pups and cows are destroyed. 

 Keep all vessels out of these waters, and let the 



Wm. Brennan, p. 363. same number of vessels as are now afloat hunt 

 seals in the North Pacific, and in a few years 

 there will be none in Bering Sea. If the present number of vessels en- 

 gaged in scaling is permitted to continue in the business from two to 

 five years longer I think the seals will be exterminated, or nearly so. 

 I am certain the seals are doomed to extinction unless some immediate 

 action is taken to protect them from the slaughter that is now r going 

 on. The sealers care nothing about preserving the seals, and say that 

 the smaller the catch is the more valuable the skins will become in the 

 market, and the higher the prices paid for them. In their whole con- 

 duct of the business they are controlled by the desire to kill as many 

 as possible in order that they may enhance the value of future catches. 



If pelagic sealing is continued, especially with 

 Henry Brown, p. 318. guns, in a few years the seal herd will became com- 

 mercially destroyed. 



Killing seals without reference to age or sex is bound to exterminate 

 the species in a very short time, and it seems to 

 Jas. TV. Budington, p. Jne ^at unless something is done in the northern 

 sealing grounds the industry will soon be as un- 

 profitable as it is in the Southern Hemisphere. 



Q. Is it your opinion, if sealing continues unre- 

 Danl. Claussen, p. 412. strieted, that they will soon be exterminated 1 ? — 

 A. I think so; yes, sir. 



And if something is not done to protect them from slaughter in the 

 „, _ „. ,, ' North Pacific and Bering Sea, they will all be gone 



Peter Collins, p. 413. ,. o 7 •/ o 



ma few years. 



If there had been strict regulations enforced, allowing us to kill only 

 young "wigs" and not to disturb the breeding 



Geo. Comer, p. 598. ' soa ] s ; i am convinced, and have no doubt, that 

 (Antarctic) ^ {] ^^ rookrr j es WO uld be full of seals to-day. 



It has been the indiscriminate killing which has caused the practical 

 extermination of the fur-seals in the Southern Hemisphere. 



In my opinion, if the seals are not harassed and hunted at sea they 

 220 will increase, and to preserve them from ex 



"^'-P* ' termination pelagic hunting must be stopped. 



