28 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



All tlie incidental causes of loss above noted are unac- 

 counted for, and the actual i)erceiitage of wastage in secur- 

 ing' the annual quota of skins since the Alaska purchase 

 thus remains indeterminate, but must have been great. It 

 is believed to have exceeded 10 per cent., and may well 

 have reached 20 per cent, on the whole number of skins 

 accepted. 

 Di f fie lilt yot 76. It is thus clear that the slaughter of seals upon the 



kmin'^*.'"^ •'"''"'* breeding islands is in itself an essentially critical aud dan- 

 gerous method of killing, Avhich, although established by 

 long custom, can scarcely be otherwise Justified. Xo reg- 

 ulations which have heretofore been devised have even 

 theoretically removed such dangers. Till quite recently, 

 altogether insufficient care has been exercised in carrying 

 out existing regulations; and the facts above referred to 

 show clearly in what way, notwithstanding stated rules, 

 and, in the absence of thoroughly independent and trained 

 supervision, such rules may be so interpreted or strained 

 as to ijermit the most serious damage to seal life as a whole. 

 Allegations 77. Agaiust the methods of pelagic sealing two principal 



sfa^ihit* P'^'^s*'' lines of criticism and of attack have been developed, and 

 both have been so persistently urged in various ways, that 

 they a])pear to have achieved a degree of recognition by 

 the uuinformed altogether unwarranted by the facts, in so 

 far as we have been able to ascertain them, though in both 

 there is an underlying measure of truth. It is stated (1) 

 that almost the entire pelagic catch consists of females; 

 (2) that a very large proportion of the seals actually killed 

 at sea are lost. 



f ^^ \i^ ' " " " ^ ''^' ^^ ^^ undoubtedly true that a considerable proportion 

 of the seals taken at sea are females, as all seals of suit- 

 able size are killed without discrimination of sex. This is, 

 in part, however, a direct corollary of the extent and 

 methods of killing upon the breeding islands, where, i>racti- 

 cally, in late years, all males reaching the shore have been 

 legally killable, and where, as a matter of fact, nearly all 

 the young males which land have been persistently killed 

 for some years, with the necessary result of leaving fewer 

 killable males in proportion to females to be taken at sea. 



79. The precise bearings on the industry as a whole of 

 the character and composition of the pelagic catch made 

 along various parts of the coast and in Behring Sea are 

 discussed at greater length elsewhere (§ G33 et seq.), but it 

 may be here noted that the great surplus of females, result- 

 ing from the practice Just alluded to, has certainly ren- 

 dered the killing of considerable numbers of these at sea 

 less harmful in its effect than it might otherwise have 

 been. 



80. To assume that the killing of animals of tlie female 

 sex is in itself reprehensible or inhuman, is to make an 

 assumption affecting all cases where animals are preserved 

 or domesticated by man. Most civilized nations, in accord- 

 ance with the dictates of humanity as Avell as those of self 

 interest, make legislative provision for the protection of 

 wild animals during the necessary periods of bringing 

 forth and of rearing their young; but the killing of females 



