REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 43 



138. If certaiu moiitlis should be discuvssed as a close '^i'"*^ ■'""*" -i* 

 time for sealing at sea, it becomes important to inquire'*^'' 



which part of the season is most injurious to seal life in 

 pro])ortiou to the number of slvins secured, and to this 

 inquiry there can be but the one reply, that the most de- 

 structive part of the j)elagic catch is that of the spring, 

 during which time it includes a considerable proportion of 

 gravid females, then commencing to travel on tlieir way 

 north to bring forth their young. It is on similar grounds 

 and at corresponding seasons that protecti(ni is usually 

 accorded to animals of any kind, and, apart from the fact 

 that these seals are killed upon the high seas, the same 

 arguments apply to this as to other cases. 



139. This portion of the pelagic sealing is wholly carried 

 on in that part of the North Pacific which lies to the south 

 of the Aleutian Islands, and here also, as has already been 

 pointed out, a certaiu number of seals are killed at the 

 same season by the iude})endent sealing of natives resident 

 along the coast of British Columbia and South-eastern 

 Alaska. The aggregate number of seals killed in this par- 

 ticular way is, however, relatively so small that it may be 

 practically ignored in any general i)ioposals looking to pro- 

 tection. It is scarcely possible, under present circum- 

 stances, to interfere with the independent native sealing, 

 even if it should be considered just to attempt to do so. 

 This species of hunting is decreasing rather than increas- 

 ing in amount as other industries grow up, and it may be 

 further indirectly discouraged without great difficulty. 



140. It may be remembered that, to a great degree, any 

 restricticms of time applied to sealing at sea are also 

 restrictions of area, for at different seasons the sealing is 

 necessarily carried on in different i)arts of the ocean. 



111. Respecting protection by means of limiting the area j,J;',"^J^? "^ *'""* 

 of sealing operations, it may be i)ointed out that the cir- 

 cumstances are such as to enable this to be done upon the 

 breeding islands without difficulty, for, both in the case of 

 the Tin'ted States and Russia, two separate islands are 

 resorted to by the fur-seals, and one or other of these 

 islands in each case might be strictly set apart and main- 

 tained as a reserve of seal life. Oi", again, certain portions 

 of the several islands might without difficulty be perma- 

 nently exempted from driving or disturbance by the sealers. 



142. Limitations affecting sealing operations on the high Expense of 



- ., ,. , '^ , ■ 1 1 111 J.1T11 control at sea. 



seas, by international assent, might equally be established 

 and maintained with the aid of a sufficient i^atrol of cruiz- 



ers, though such police regulations would be attended 

 23 with considerable expense. Some expenditure is, 



however, involved under any system of control of 

 sealing at sea, whether defined by area or by time limits. 



143. In any case, great good would be done by extending rrotected zones 

 around the breeding islands, to a distance to be agreed [°,"X| ^""'^ '■'" 

 upon in conformity with the circumstances, a zone of pro- 

 tected waters. Such an area of protection, if only of mod- 

 erate width, would not alone ]>revent the disturbance or 

 slaughter of practically all seals at the time actually resort- 

 ing to the breeding rookeries, but Avould possess the great 



