msTOEY. 187 



PELAGIC SEALING. 

 HISTORY. 



Open-sea sealing, the sole cause of the enor- j,jji:[y"°^^'^'^"''^^* 

 mous decrease noted in the Alaskan seal herd in 

 the last few years, and which threatens its exter- 

 mination in the near future, was carried on by 

 the Pacific coast natives in their canoes for many 

 years previous to the introduction of sealing 

 schooners. The catch was small, ranging from 

 three to eight thousand annually,^ and there was 

 little or no waste of life from the loss of seals 

 killed and not secured, as will be seen when the 

 means and manner of hunting employed by the 

 Indians is considered. 



Even after vessels were employed in the in- ^^^^^'^^ ^^^ed. 

 dustry, which, according to Mr. Morris Moss, vice- 

 president of the Sealers' Association of Victoria, 

 British Columbia, was about the year 1872,^ the 

 fleet was small, not numbering over half a dozen 

 vessels.^ Indians only were employed as hunters, 

 and the seals were killed with spears.^ With the 

 introduction of schooners to carry the canoes out 

 into the ocean, the sealing grounds were extended 



' C. M, Scammon, Vol. II, p. 475. 

 « Morris Moss, Vol. II, p. 341. 



