REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 41 



1.30. The principal modes of ])rotectioii of a ])i'actical eliar- J-\ ' "c i p a i 

 acter wliich liave been sn.i>-j4-ested for the North racific by tion'suggirteii!'^ 

 various authorities may be classed under the followin^y- 

 heads: 



(a.) Time. Limit in ])eriod of sealing'. 



(6.) Knmber. Limit in number of seals taken. 



((?.) Area. Limit in regions over which sealing- nniy be 

 carried on. 



((/.) Methods Improvement in methods of conducting- 

 sealing-. 



131. Limitations of time have been placed most pronu'- cioseTeasous.***' 

 uently in the list of remedies; and, indeed, " close seasons" 



have beeu popularly regarded as the main if not tlu^ only 

 remedy of a general kind. It is clear, however, in the 

 light of facts, that, for the purpose of limiting- the total 

 uumbers taken, a time limit is specially aj)plicable only to 

 the i)elag-ic industry, in which the number of seals taken 

 bears a direct ratio, other things being equal, to the length 

 of the season of hunting-, and where the only way in which 

 a reduced catch would not result from a shortened season 

 would be by an increased number of vessels employed, 

 which would soon reach unremunerative limits. On the 

 breeding- islands, on the cmitrary, limiting- the time of kill- 

 ing- does not necessarily limit the numbers taken, and the 

 only effective limit is one of number. This has been fully 

 acknowledged in the measures adopted throughout with 

 regard to the regulation of the catch on both the Pribyloft" 

 and Commander Islands, where it is obvious that if but 

 one or two summer months in all were allowed for kilHng 

 and no other restrictions were a])plied, the number of seals 

 killed would become merely a (juestion of the number of 

 men employed, and need only be limited by the exhaustion 

 of animals to kill. 



132. With further reference to the effect of i)r()posed EtrectH differ at 



,. T-. 1 ,, , VT «<"* "-^"d "" shore. 



tune Innits or close seasons on the shore- and sea-sealing 

 respectively, and in order to prove that such an apparently 

 simple method of regulation is not equally applicable to 

 both industries, it may be shown that generally this effect 

 would be not only inequitable, but often diametrically 

 opposite in the two cases. 



In i)elagic sealing, the weather is usually such as to i nduce 

 a few vessels to go out in January, but the catches made in 

 this month are as a rule small. In Februaiy, March, ami 

 April the conditions are usually better, and larger catches 

 are made. In May and June the seals are found further 

 to the north, and these are good sealing months; Avhile in 

 July, August, and i)art of September sealing is conducted 

 in liehring Sea, and good catches are often made till such 

 time as the weather becomes so uncertain and rough as to. 

 practically close the season. 



133. Upon the Pribyloff Islands, though it has been the on tiK« I'liby- 

 custom to kill a certain number of seals for food at all times " *'''^"* ^' 

 during the i)eriod of live or live and a-half months in which 



any seals are found on shore, the young males or "bache- 

 lors" (which, together with virgin females, are practically 

 the only class which can be taken ashore in large numbers 



