C. L. HOOPP^R, CAPTAIN, U. S. R. M. 499 



lu this coiiiiectioii I wish to state that in luy jiulguient by far the 

 greater slaughter and waste of seal life takes place in 

 the Pacific Uceau, where they are constantly hunted o^^eanf*^*^'^^"^'*"^" 

 and harassed from the time tliey arrive oft' the coast of 

 California in January until they enter Bering Sea in 

 June and July. There are this season probably 700 jji^'^llst. °^ ^'''''^"'" 

 boats or canoes engaged in hunting fur seals in the 

 Pacific Ocean along the American coast; many of them commenced 

 hunting in January or February off the coast of California and Oregon, 

 and ha-ve kept it up continually, following the seals in their movements 

 northward until at the present time they are in the Alaskan Gulf be- 

 tween the St. l^lias region and the Aleutian Island passes, toward 

 which the seals are making their way, friglitened and exhausted after 

 four months' constant effort to escape the spear and shotgun of the 

 hunter. 



The seal catch in the Pacific Ocean ot the Victoria sealing fleet alono 

 up to the 12th instant was estimated at 30,000. Victor ^^ 1 1 • ?• 

 Jacobson, master of the British sealing schooner Mary dflc. " 

 UUcn, one of the oldest sealers out of Victoria, who MaryEiun. 

 furnished me with this estimate, declared it as his belief, based upon 

 Avhat he knew about sealing, that the 30,000 seals taken represent 

 a loss of over 100,000 seals on account of the killing of ,^ 



AV'iste of life 



unborn young, and the loss by sinking and wounding 

 past recovery. The American sealers have probably been equally de- 

 structive. This destruction is increasing yearly, not only in the ratio 

 of the increase in the number of vessels, but by reason of the increased 

 experience and knowledge of the habits of the seal by 

 the hunters, and each vessel is able to take more seals thffnlreasl!^''"^' °" 

 than formerly, notwithstanding the fact that seals are 

 becoming less each year. The route of the fur seal after it first appears 

 off' the coast of California in January is well known; all their feeding 

 places are known and carefully watched; indeed, the entire route of 

 travel is carefully Avatched and patrolled every day that the condition 

 of wind and waves will ]iermit. Long practice has made the eyesight 

 of the hunter keen, and his knowledge of the habits of the fur seal per- 

 fect. If but one seal attempted to follow the route usually taken by 

 the seal herds, I doubt if it could escape capture, so thorough is th(5 

 watch that is kept for them. Until recently the old bulls that inhabit 

 the breeding rookeries have not been killed by the hunters, as the skin 

 is of no value; now, however, a use has been found for the old bull, its 

 skin brings the same price as any other, and it is being hunted and 

 killed with the rest. They are found m large numbers oft' Yakutat 

 and the vicinity of Middleton Island. The American „ 



1 TT -r\ • • 1 j_ 1 1 Henry Dennis, 1892. 



schooner Henry Dennis, jireviously reported by me as 

 takin gold male seals of Yakutat, arrived at this place a few days since 

 with over L,GOO skins, having taken about 1,000 since we spoke her on 

 the 23d of Ajiril between the points named. Of these I am told that 

 many were very large old males. The breeding fema,les, pups, and 

 young males are hunted and killed from the time they c r o^ a- 

 reach the coast of California until they enter Bering •^•■^"'S" 

 Sea, and the older males and old bulls that inhabit the breeding rook- 

 eries are being killed upon their feeding grounds in the Alaskan Gulf. 

 With this condition of affairs existing in the Pacific Ocean, it is easy 

 to understand that no amount of protection to the fur 

 seal in Bering Sea will prevent their becoming ex- cifliJoceannece"sary. 

 tinct in a few years. Tliey must be ]>rotei'ted in the 

 Pacific Ocean also, or the day of the fur seal is numbered. 



