412 LETIERR OF NATURALISTS. 



1)0 dcstioyed and driven away completely in two or three seasons. 

 Moreover, as the number of " bachelors" in any given season is easily 

 ascertained, it is possible to keep down the take to such a i>erceutage 

 as shall do no harm to the stock. The conditions for efficient regula- 

 tion are here quite ideal. 



6. But in Bering Sea and on the northwest coast the case is totally 

 altered. In order to get rid of all complications, let it be sni)posed that 

 western North America, from Bering Straits to California, is in the pos- 

 session of one power, and that we have only to consider the question of 

 the regulations which that power should make and enforce in order to 

 jireserve the fur-seal fisheries. Suppose, further, that the authority 

 of that power extended over Bering Sea and over all the northwest 

 Pacific east of aline drawn from the Shumagin Islands to California. 



Under such conditions I should say (looking at nothing but the pres- 

 ervation of the seals) that the best course would be to prohibit the tak- 

 ing of the fur-seals anywhere except on the Pribilof Islands, and to 

 limit the take to such percentage as experience proved to be consistent 

 with 'the preservation of a good average stock. The furs would be in the 

 best order, the waste of life would be least, and, if the system were 

 honestly worked, there could be no danger of overfishing. 



7. However, since northwest America does not belong to one power, 

 and since international law does not acknowledge Bering Sea to be a 

 marc clausiim, nor recognize the jurisdiction of a riverain power be- 

 yond the 3-mile limit, it is quite clear that this ideal arrangement is 

 iuipracticable. 



The case of the fur-seal fisheries is, in fact, even more difficult than 

 that of the salmon fisheries, in such a river as the Rhine, where the up- 

 per waters belong to one power and the lower to another. 



8. The northwest Pacific, from Calilbrnia to Shunuigin (at any rate), 

 is open to all the world, and, according to the evidence, the seals keep 

 mainly outside the 3-mile limit. A convention between Britain and 

 the United States (backed by a number of active cruisers) might re- 

 strain the subjects of both. But what about ships under another flag? 



9. Moreover, I do not see how the Canadians could be reasonably ex- 

 pected to give up their fishery for the sake of preserving the Pribilof 

 lisheries, in which they have no interest. 



10. If, however, it is admitted that the Canadians can not be asked 

 to give up their fisheries, I see no way out of the difficulty except one, 

 and I do not know that it is practicable. 



It is that the Pribilof, Bering, and nortlnvest coast fur-seal fisheries 

 shall be consich'red national property on the ]iart of the United States 

 and (Jreat Britain, to be worked by a joint fishery commission, which 

 shall have powcjr to make by-laws under the terms of a general treaty, 

 to wliich I suppose other powers (who have hardly any interest in the 

 matter) ct»uld be got to agree. 



11. I am free to confess that my experience of the i)roceedings of 

 fishery boards does not encourage me to hope that the i)roceedings of 

 snch a commission would be altogether harmonious, but if it werecom- 

 ]>osed of sensible men they would, sooner or later, sti'uggle out into a 

 modiifi rirnidl; for, after all, it is as much the Canadian interest that 

 the Pril>ilof fisheiies shonhl be preserved as it is the United States in- 

 terest that the seals should not be extir]ialed in Bering Sea and the 

 northwest Pacific. 



12. In such a case as this I do not believe that the enforcement of a 

 close time, either in Bering Sea or on the northwest coast, would be of 

 any practical utility, unless the fishing is absolutely prohibited (which 



