SYNOPSIS OF PINNIPEDS. 383 



about 200,000 to 500,000, nuu'Ji depeiuliiig- upon tlie season as rejiaids 

 stoinis and the coixlition of the ice with reference to the accessibility of 

 the breediiii;' results of the seals. There lias, however, of late years 

 been a jj;Tadual decline in the number of seals annually procured, and a 

 larger proportion of the vessels engaged make losing" voyages. Since 

 1800 larger vessels have been employed than was formerly the case, and 

 since 1870 sailing vessels have gradually given place to steamers. There 

 has been admittedly a great decline in recent years in 

 the numbers of seals breeding on the floating ice to the ^''"°° "^" ^"^^ ^''"^■ 

 eastward of Newfoundhind, and in order to place some restriction on 

 the number killed a date has been fixed prior to which sealing is illegal. 

 I The Jan Mayen, of " Greenland" seal fishery, based on tliis si)ecies, 

 is next in importance to that of the ice fields east of 

 ISrewfoundland. Itismainly limited to a. circular area of ijj[^" Mayen SeA 

 about 100 miles in diameter, with Jan Mayen Island as 

 the central point. The annual catch for many years averaged about 

 200,000 (chiefly young- seals,, or " white-coats "), taken principally by 

 British, Norwegian, and German sealers As early as the middle of 

 the eighteenth century the Jan Mayen sealing industry had already 

 attained considerable imi)ortance, the catch numbering' upward of 

 40,000 annually. It began to decAine about 1870, and soon after the 

 matter of instituting an international close time Avas ^„ ,. , ^ , 



. , , , oi 1 1 j_- ,.11 1 J 1 ■ Close time auoptea. 



agitated. JSucli a close time was finally adopted in 

 1870, to go into eflect the following- year, fixing the 3d day of April as 

 the beginning of the sealing season. The rapid increase in the sealing- 

 fleet from 1800 to 1871, and particularly the increased use of steam 

 vessels, while the catch steadily declined, showed tliat the then prev- 

 alent system of indiscriminate slaughter was surely ruining the seal 

 fishery. 



I Mr. Southwell, commenting on the continuing decline and on the fact 

 that most of the vessels eng-aged in sealing- in 1881, at both the New- 

 foundland and "Greenland" (Jan Mayen) grounds, incurred more or 

 less loss, says: "It is not surprisin,g, therefore, to find that the New- 

 foundland sealers closed the fishery earlier than usual, and that the 

 thoughtful men like Capt. D. Gray should plead for an extension of the 

 Greenland close time. As I said before, it is probable that a large 

 number of the young seals which were produced on the Newfoundland 

 ice this season escaped; this, however, was a mere accident, and rarely 

 happens; but in Greenland it is not likely that any of the brood for 

 several years past (with the exception of the season of 1882) have 

 escaped. Although the close time which came into 

 operation in 1877 has somewhat retarded the exterini insufficilat!^'*^'' *""** 

 nation of the Greenland seals, it is evident that some- 

 thing else is requiied; and Captain Gray, in a circular letter which he 

 liad issued to those interested, advocates an extension of the close time 

 to April 10, and that hooded seals should not be shot after some day 

 in J Illy, after which they were out of condition and valueless. This, 

 doubtless, would have a very beneficial effect, but I venture to think 

 that more is required." (Thomas Southwell, zoologist, 1885, pp. 81, 85.) 

 I The history of the Newfoundland and Jan Mayen sealing grounds 

 shows that unless great care be used to check indis- 

 criminate and wasteful overkilling, through the rigid ceSlry.''*'""^''"""''^' 

 enforcement of a judiciously limited close time or by 

 other means, these once apparently exhaustless sealing grounds will 

 become so depleted of seal life as to be no longer of commercial imi)or- 

 tance. Formerly great numbers of harp seals were taken by the 



