364 



REPORTS OF BERING SEA COMMISSION. 



History. 



ludiau hunters. In addition to the destruction wrought by the 

 seahng schooners, pehigic seahng is still carried 

 on along shore by the native Indians in their 

 canoes, but the number of fur-seals thus killed 

 is relatively small. 



Pelagic sealing has been carried on fortuit- 

 ously and on a small scale for many years, but 

 it was not until within the present decade that 

 numerous vessels engaged systematically in the 

 enterprise. The profits are so great in compar- 

 ison with the capital invested that, as the results 

 of the annual catch became known each year, a 

 constantly increasing number of vessels was led 

 to engage in the industry, with a corresponding 

 increase in the number of seals killed in the open 

 of sea. The fur-seals which move northward along 

 the coast of the Northwestern United States, 

 British Columbia, and southeastern Alaska from 

 January until late in June are chiefly pregnant 

 females, and about ninety per cent of the adult 

 seals killed by pelagic sealers in the North Pacific 

 are females heavy with young. 



For several years the pelagic sealers were 

 content to pursue their destructive work in the 

 North Pacific, but of late they have entered 

 Beiing Sea, where they continue to ca2')ture seals 

 in the water throuo-hout the entire summer. The 



Dostrnctiou 

 female seals. 



Pelagic sealers 

 cuter Beriii": Sea. 



