ORAL ARGUMENT OP JAMES C. CARTER, ESQ. 45 



As regards the imjnediate necessities of the case I am prepared to recommend to 

 my Government for their approval and acce]>tance certain measures of precaution 

 whicli might be adopted provisionally and without prejudice to tlie ultimate deci- 

 sion on the points to be investigated by the commission. Those measures, which I 

 will explain later on, would etiectually remove all reasonable apprehension of any 

 depletion of the fnr-seal species, at all events, pending the rei)ort of the commission. 



It is important, in this relation, to note that while it has been contended on the 

 part of the United States Government that the dei)letion of the fur-seal species 

 has already commenced, and that even the extermination of the species is threat- 

 ened within a measurable space of time, the latest reports of the United States agent, 

 Mr. Tingle, are such as to dissipate all such alarms. 



Mr. Tingle, in 1887, reported that the vast number of seals was on the increase, 

 and that the condition of all the rookeries could not be better. 



In his later report, dated July .31, 1888, ho wrote as folloW'S: 



"I am happy to be able to report that, although late landing, the breeding rook- 

 eries are hlled out to the lines of measurement heretofore made, and some of them 

 much beyond those lines, showing conclusively that seal lile is not being depleted, 

 but is fully up to the estimate given in my report of 1887." 



Mr. Elliott, who is frequently appealed to as a great authority on the subject, 

 affirms that, such is the natural increase of the fur seal species that these animals, 

 were they not preyed upon by killer whales (Oica Gladiator), sharks and other sub- 

 marine foes would multij^ly to such an extent that "Behriug Sea itself could not 

 contain them." 



'i'he Honorable Mr. Tupper has shown in his memorandum that the destruction of 

 seals caused by pelagic sealing is insigniiicant in comparison Avith that caused by 

 their natural enemies, and gives figures exhibiting the marvelous increase of seals in 

 spite of the depredations complained of. 



Again the destructive nature of the modes of killing seals by spears and firearms 

 has apparently been greatly exaggerated as may be seen Irom the affidavits of jirac- 

 tical seal hunters which 1 annex to this letter, together with a confirmatory extract 

 from a paper upon the "Fur-Seal Fisheries of the Pacific Coast and Alaska," pre- 

 pared and published in San Francisco and designed for the information of Eastern 

 United States Senators and Congressmen. 



The Canadian Government estimate the percentage of seals so wounded or killed 

 and not recovered at 6 per cent. 



In view of the facts above stated, it is improbable that pending the result of the 

 inquiry, which I have suggested, any appreciable diminution of the fur seal species 

 should take place, even if the existing conditions of pelagic sealing were to remain 

 unchanged. 



But in order to quiet all apprehension on that score, I would propose the following 

 provisional regulations. 



1. That pelagic sealing should be prohibited in the Behring Sea, the Sea of 

 Okhotsk, and the adjoining waters, during the mouths of May and June, and during 

 the months of October, November, and December, which may be termed the ''migra- 

 tion periods" of the fur seal. 



2. That all sealing vessels should be prohibited from approaching the breeding 

 islands within a radius of 10 miles. 



These regulations would put a stop to the two practices complained of as tending to 

 exterminate the species ; firstly, the slaughter of female seals with young during the 

 migration periods, especially in the narrow passes of the Aleutian Islands ; secondly, 

 the destruction of female seals by marauders surreptitiously landing on the breeding 

 islands under cover of the dense fogs which almost continuously prevail in that 

 locality during the summer. 



Mr. Taylor, another agent of the United States Government asserts that the female 

 seals (called cows) go out from the breeding islands every day for food. The follow- 

 ing is an extract from his evidence: • 



"These cows go 10 and 15 miles, and even farther. I do not know the average of 

 it — and they are going and coming all the morning and evening. The sea is black 

 with them round about the islands. If there is a little fog and they get out half a 

 mile from shore we can not see a vessel 100 yards even. The vessels themselves lay 

 around the islands there where they pick up a good many seal, and there is where 

 the killing of cows occurs when they go ashore." 



Whetlier the female seals go any distance from the islands in quest of food and if 

 so, to what distance, are questions in dis]>ute, but pending their solution the regula- 

 tion which I propose against the approach of sealing vessels within 10 miles of the 

 islands for the prevention of surreptitious landing practically meets Mr. Tayhir's 

 complaint, be it well founded or not, to the fullest extent; for, owing to the preva- 

 lence of fogs, the risk of capture within a radius of 10 miles will keep vessels oft' at 

 a much greater distance. 



This regulation if accepted by Her Majesty's Government would certainly manifest 

 a friendly desire on their part to cooperate with your Government and that of 



