246 PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION. 



Opinions of Herman Liebes, already .spoken of as being the 



American furriers. 



largest pnrchaser of the Northwest catch at 

 Victoria, British Columbia, places the time of ex- 

 termination at three years unless the herd is pro- 

 tected from the depredations of pelagic sealers.^ 

 Opinions of pe- Turning- now to those still more conversant 



lagic scalers. ^ 



with the wasteful destruction of life through 

 open-sea sealing, the resulting depletion of the 

 Alaskan herd, and the probable effect of contin- 

 uing pelagic hunting, the opinions already given 

 are still further sustained. A great number of 

 these men, sealers with more or less experience, 

 unite in declaring the necessity of protecting the 

 herd in order to preserve it from certain exter- 

 mination in the near future. Alexander McLean 

 was asked the question: "If sealing continues as 

 heretofore, is there any danger of exterminating 

 them [the seals]!" He replied: "If they con- 

 tinue as they have be-en since I have been in the 

 business, I will give them ten years. After that 

 the sealing business will be about finished."^ 

 Mr. Morris Moss, vice-president of the Sealers' 

 Association of Victoria, British Columbia, says : 

 ''It is very important that if the fur seal is to be 

 preserved, it must be protected from indiscrim- 

 inate slaughter in the open sea or it will soon be 



1 Vol, II, p. 514. 

 . * Vol. II, p. 438. 



