

EFFECTS OF PELAGIC SEALING. 171 



the destructive effects of pelagic sealing. This artificial and added source of loss 

 among the young pups is all the more impressive when taken in connection with the 

 previous loss which they suffer from natural causes. 



THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF PELAGIC SEALING. 



We are now ready to consider finally the full effects of pelagic sealing on the fur- 

 seal herd. It is apparent that a large proportion of the fur seals taken at sea are 

 females; that every female above the age of 2 years is pregnant, and that when taken 

 in Bering Sea she has a pup dependent upon her whose death results from her own. 



Using an average of all the data available, the proportion of females in the 

 pelagic catch is about 80 per cent, or, to be on the safe side, and for the sake of ease 

 in computation, we may consider it to be 75 per cent. 



THE TOTAL EFFECT OF PELAGIC SEALING. 



In the earlier discussion of the pelagic catch we found that a grand total of 

 988,047, or approximately 1,000,000 seals, had been taken at sea since 1868 from all 

 the herds of the North Pacific. With this data at hand we may make the following 

 tabulation of the losses thus suffered by the fur-seal herds of the Pribilof and 

 Commander islands: 



Loss in all waters through pelagic sealing, 1868-1897, 



Animals actually secured (in round numbers) 1, 000, 000 



Animals shot, but lost (undetermined). 



Unborn pups destroyed with females (75 per cent of above) 750, 000 



Nursing pups starved (proportion of females killed in Bering Sea) 180, 000 



Total 1,930,000 



Though the. second item in the above enumeration is not and can not be 

 determined, it is nevertheless an important one and must be borne constantly in mind. 

 During this period it is significant to note, as bearing upon the proportion of the sexes 

 at sea, that approximately 3,000,000 males were killed on land during the equivalent 

 period. 



THE EFFECT SINCE 1883. 



But inasmuch as land killing was at its maximum during the first fifteen years of 

 this period, and pelagic sealing only nominal, the effect of the latter will be more 

 strikingly apparent if the comparison be based upon the results since 1883, when the 

 pelagic catch in Bering Sea began. This computation for the Pribilof herd alone 

 would be as follows : 



Loss to the Pribilof herd through pelagic sealing since 1883. 



Animals actually secured 536, 000 



Animals shot, but lost (undetermined). 



Unborn pups destroyed with females (75 per cent of above) 402, 000 



Nursing pups starved 180, 000 



Total 1,118,000 



Total laud killing covering the same period 842, 000 



