180 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



THE AMERICAN CONTENTION. 



The Ainericati contention was in brief that the decline of the herd was due to 

 pelagic sealing; that pelagic killing was indiscriminate, the female sex predominating 

 in the catch; that these females when killed off the Northwest Coast in the spring 

 were gravid, and when killed on their feeding excursions in Bering Sea were nursing, 

 and left dependent pups upon the rookeries whose death resulted from starvation. 



THE BRITISH CONTENTION. 



The British contention, on the other hand, held that the proportion of females in 

 the pelagic catch was comparatively unimportant and composed chiefly of barren 

 cows; that nursing females did not leave the islands while their pups were 

 dependent upon them; that in case they did so leave and were killed, their young 

 could be nursed by other cows or could subsist on food procured from the sea. 

 Having thus disposed of the contention of the United States, a counter proposition 

 was set up that land killing as practiced on the islands rather than sea killing was 

 responsible for the decline of the herd. 



THEIR COMPARATIVE MERITS. 



It is not the intention at this point to discuss the comparative merits of these 

 contentions. They have been fully treated in the preceding pages. It is sufficient 

 here to say that subsequent events have conclusively proved the essential truth of 

 the American contention and the falsity of the British counter claims. From the 

 conflicting evidence brought before the Tribunal, it is not strange that the regulations 

 formulated by it which are a blind effort at compromise are an utter failure for the 

 purpose for which they were intended. 



B. THE REGULATIONS OF THE AWARD. 



The regulations are published in full in Appendix II to this report, together with 

 a more extended account of the Tribunal of Arbitration itself. We may here briefly 

 summarize the provisions of these regulations as follows: (1) the establishment of a 

 closed /one about the Pribilof Islands of a radius of 60 miles; (2) a closed season 

 from the 1st of May to the 31st of July; (3) the restriction of pelagic sealing to 

 sailing vessels and undecked boats and canoes; (4) the requirement of a special license 

 and flag by sealing vessels; (5) a record of the place, number, and sex of seals taken; 

 (0) a proficiency requirement on the part of those engaging in the business; (7) the 

 exemption of Indians on the Northwest Coast from the provisions of the regulations; 

 (8) a provision for the reconsideration of the regulations at the end of five years if 

 found to be inadequate. These regulations were put into operation by appropriate 

 legislation both by the United States and Great Britain in the spring of the year 1894. 



THE MINOR PROVISIONS. 



The minor provisions of the regulations we need not dwell upon. Sailing vessels 

 are doubtless the only ones which can profitably be used in the business. The license 

 and flag are no doubt useful, but immaterial. The prohibition of firearms in Bering 

 Sea is a provision wholly in the interests of the sealers. The proficiency requirement 

 borders on the ridiculous. Exemption of the Northwest Coast Indians is just and 



