48 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



following suggestions are otiered as pointing out those methods likely 

 to i)rove most useful in the particular case under consideration : 



(i.) Statutory provisions should be made, declaring it unlawful to 

 hunt or take fur-seal during the close season by subjects or vessels of 

 the respective Powers. 



(ii.) The time of commencement of the sealing season should be fur- 

 ther regulated by the date of issuance of special Customs clearances 

 and of licences for sealing, and preferably by the issuance of such 

 clearances or licences from certain specified i^orts only. 



(iii.) As elsewhere explained, the regulation of the time of opening 

 of the sealing season is the most important, and the closing of the 

 season is i)ractically brought about by the onset of rough weath6r in 

 the early autumn. If, however, it be considered desirable to fix a pre- 

 cise date for the close of sea-sealing in each year, this can be done, as 

 in the case of the date of sealing under the Jan-Mayen Convention. 



(iv.) The liability for breach of the regulations, of whatever kind, 

 should be made to apply to the owner, to the master or person in charge 

 of any vessel, and to the hunters engaged on the vessel. 



(v.) The ])enalty.imposed should be a tine (of which one-half should go 

 to the informant), with possibly, in aggravated cases or second ofl'euces, 

 the forfeiture of the catch and of the vessel itself. 



(vi.) To facilitate the supervision of the seal fishery and the execu- 

 tion of the regulations, all sealers might, in addition, be required to fly 

 a distinctive flag, which might well be identical with, or some colour 

 modilication of, that already adopted for the same purpose by the 

 Japanese Government. 



(D.) — Alternative Methods of RegnlatUm. 



Kio. Although the general scheme of measure^ above described 

 appears to us, all things considered, to be the most appropriate to the 

 actual circumstances, measures of other kinds have suggested them- 

 selves. Some of these, though i^erhaps less perfectly adapted to secure 

 tlie fullest advantages, recommend themselves from their very sim- 

 plicity and the ease with which they might be applied. Of such alter- 

 native methods of regulation, three may be specially referred to: 



(i. ) — Entire I'rohihiium of Killing on one of lite Breeding Islands, witli suiiahle Concurrent 



liegnlations at Sea, 



164. The entire reservation and protection of one of the two larger 

 islands of the Pribylofl' group, either St. Paul or St. George Island, 

 might be assured; such island to be maintained as an undisturbed 

 breeding place, upon which no seals shall be killed for any purpose. 

 On the remaining island, the number of seals killed for commercial pur- 

 poses would remain wholly under the control of the Government of the 

 United States. 



In consideration of the guaranteed preservation of a breeding island 

 with the purpose of insuring the continuance of the seal stock in the 

 common interest, a /one of protected waters might be established about 

 the Pribylofl' Islands, and pelagic sealing might be further controlled 

 and restricted by means of a close season, including the early spring 

 months, or by a protected area to the south of the Aleutian Islands, 

 defined by i)arallels of latitude. Such provisions at sea to have, as far 

 as ]jossible, qu5i.utivaleut relation to those established on the breeding 

 islands. 



