252 PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION. 



Absolute proiii- siclei'ecl Rs entirely unbiased, unless a scientific 



bitiou of pelagic 



seaiiug. niterest can be regarded as a bias, says: "Upon 



tlie amount of protection depends the safety of 

 the seal herd in the future. If protected only 

 upon tlie Pribilof Islands, extermination will be 

 rapid; if they are protected upon the islands 

 and in the waters of Bering sea also, the decrease 

 will be slower, but ultimate extinction will prob- 

 ably follow. To preserve them completely it is 

 necessary that they should be protected in all 

 waters which they frequent at all times."^ Mr. 

 C. A. Williams, whose long experience in the 

 fur business has made him thoroughly competent 

 to speak on this question, and whose interest is 

 no longer aifected by the preservation of the 

 seal herd, says that he "regards it as important 

 that the seal herd should be protected * * * 

 in the North Pacific, as otherwise they will be 

 exterminated, even if sealing be prohibited in 

 the Bering Sea."^ Dr. H. PL Mclntyre says: 

 "In my judgment the seals should be protected 

 in Bering Sea and the North Pacific, and that 

 pelagic sealing should be entirely prohibited in 

 said waters."^ Mr. Alfred Fraser, already men- 

 tioned as a British subject, whose interests are 

 entirely with the continuance of the sealskin 



iVol. II, p. 24. 



2 Vol. II, p. 538. 



3 Vol. II, p. 46. 



