134 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



502. Captain Snow, the well-known sealer of Yokobama, took in one 

 year (1S81) 7,000 seals from Srednoi Kock alone. Next year be found 

 none there. The natives of Urup Island always bad seal-skins to sell, 

 and this led to the Alaska Commercial Company and the schooners 

 searching the neighbourhood, but the island being low and l^ehind others 

 was very difficult to tind. In the following year (1887), he secured 

 2,000 seals on Ushishir Island. Such are some of the examples of the 



wholesale slaughter of seal on these smaller, but prolific, rookeries. 

 88 503. The Japanese Government was not slow to appreciate 



the gravity of the case, and the Agricultural Department was 

 prompt to report that the promising annual catch had suddenly 

 decreased because of this indiscriminate slaughter on shore. 



504. An Im])erial Decree was issued on the 23rd May, 1884, forbid- 

 ding the hunting of the fur-seal in Japanese waters except by persons 

 with a special i^ermit. This was supplemented on the ICth December, 

 1880, by Regulations issued by the Imperial authorities under the 

 immediate supervision of the Governor- General of Hakodate. 



505. Tliese Regulations, in brief, enacted: 



(i.) No fur-seal may be taken except between the 15tb April and the 

 31st October. 



(ii.) No fur-seal may be taken outside a defined area. 



(iii.) This area is divided into three portions, in only one of which is 

 seal-bunting permitted in any given year, the other two divisions bene- 

 fiting by two years of rest. 



(iv.) All vessels engaged must be specially licensed, and conform to 

 special regulations, and fly a special flag. 



(v.) All skins brought to market must be stamped at certain ports. 



There is no specified limit to the numbers of licences, but the issuing 

 authorities would exercise discretion in the matter. 



506. The Nipon Marine Products Company, of Hakodate, with a cap- 

 ital of 125,000?., was formed to carry on wlialingand the capture of sea- 

 otter and fur-seals. The Company purchased three schooners of about 

 70 tons each, manned by crews of twenty five men, for the purpose of 

 killing seals on these hauling-grounds, these being the only vessels 

 which have as yet taken out the necessary licences. Tbese three ves- 

 sels were reported to have taken sixty seals between them in 1891. 



507. Last year three " foreign " vessels fitted out in Yokobama, but 

 their destination was to the north of the Japanese waters; and two, 

 the "Arctic" and the "Mystery," were captured in the late autumn by 

 the Russian gun-boat "Aleut" raiding Robben Island, having killed 

 1,500 seals. 



508. It would appear that the somewhat elaborate Regnlations setup 

 by the Japanese Government in 1886 have been as yet j)ractically inop- 

 erative. It is reported that the Government vessel, the " Kaimonkan," 

 detailed to enforce these Regulations in 1891, as a matter of fact never 

 left her station at Nemuro. It seems probable, however, that, with the 

 exception of the local shore fishermen, no one else has been inclined 

 to seek for seals among tbese Japanese islands since the rookeries were 

 depleted in 1881-82. 



509. Apart from the Commander Islands, the most important breed- 

 ing place of the fur-seal in the Western Pacific at the present time is 

 undoubtedly Robben Reef or Island, named Tucelen or Seal Island on 

 Russian charts, lying off Cape Patience, on the east coast of Saghalien 

 Island, in Okotsk Sea. Tliis is a low, flat, rocky islet, destitute of 

 haven or convenient anchorage for vessels, about 1,800 feet only in 

 length and not more than 50 feet in greatest height, surrounded by 



