7.-REMARKS ON THE MOVEMENTS AND BREEDING-GROUNDS 

 OF THE FUR-SEAL, BASED ON OBSERVATIONS MADE WHILE 

 ON THE UNITED STATES NAVAL PATROL OF BERING SEA 

 IN 1894. 



l!v John J. Brice, Commander, United States Navy. 



Under the terms of the award of* the Bering Sea arbitration tribunal, 

 as enacted into law by the act of Congress of April (5, 1804, the fur-seal 

 received the following protection while absent from its breeding-grounds 

 on the Pribilof Islands: 



(1) Immunity from pursuit or capture at any time and in any manner 

 in Bering Sea within a radius of GO geographical miles of the seal 

 islands. 



(2) Further immunity from pursuit or capture in any manner betw< en 

 Mayl and July 31, inclusive, in that part of the Pacific Ocean, including 

 Bering Sea, north of the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude and east 

 of the one hundred and eightieth degree of longitude from Greenwich 

 continued as far north as the sixtieth degree of latitude ; thence the 

 protected area is bounded hyaline drawn northeast to the center of 

 Bering Strait. 



(3) Immunity from pursuit by any other than sailing vessels and 

 canoes or undecked boats propelled by sails or ours. 



(4) Immunity from capture by nets, firearms, air guns, or explosives, 

 except that shotguns may be used outside of Bering Sea during the 

 lawful season. 



The migrations of the fur-seal are so regular and well marked that 

 they are easily taken advantage of by sealers, who know where the seal 

 herd may be looked for at any given time. The seal is thus differently, 

 and much more unfavorably, placed as regards natural protection 

 than are some other marine mammals that are sought by man, the 

 whales, porpoises, and sea-otter, for instance, whose movements are 

 either irregular or not fully understood by the hunters. 



The movements of pelagic animals are influenced to a very great 

 extenl by the temperature of the water in which they exist. The 

 migratory instinct, whether leading them to feeding-grounds or to 

 breeding-grounds, appears to be dominated by the water temperature. 

 In the case of oceanic fishes like the cod and mackerel, and of anadro- 

 mous fishes like the salmon and shad, the determination of the time 

 and general course of their migrations by the water temperature is 



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