SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



or zone of grass-covered land, varying from 100 to 500 feet in width, on which the 

 Btones and bowlders are flipper-worn and polished by the former movements of the 

 seals, and tin; grass is yellowish-green in color and of a different genus (Ulyceria. 

 atif/HHtuta) from the rank, high grass usually growing immediately behind it (Elymus 

 mollis). In many places the ground between the tussocks ami hummocks of grass is 

 covered with a thin layer of felting, composed of the shed hairs of the seals matted 

 down and mixed with excrement, urine, and surface; soil. The exact year when this 

 yellow-grass /one was last occupied by seals is difficult to ascertain, but the bulk of 

 testimony points to 1886 or 1887. The aggregate si/e of the areas formerly occupied 

 is at least four times as great as that of the present rookeries. 



CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE DEPLETION OF THE ROOKERIES. 



The seals which move northward along the coast of the northwestern United 

 States, British Columbia, and southeastern Alaska from .January until late in June* 

 are chiefly pregnant females, and about 90 per cent of the seals killed by pelagic 

 sealers in the North Pacific are fnnales heavy with young. For obvious reasons 

 many more seals are wounded than killed outright, and many more that are killed 

 sink before they can be reached, ami consequently are lost. As each of these contains 

 a young, it is evident that several are destroyed to every one secured. 



For several years the pelagic sealers were content to pursue their destructive work 

 in the North Pacific, but of late they have entered Bering Sea, where they continue 

 to capture seals in the water throughout the entire summer. The females killed 

 (luring this period are giving milk and are away from the islands in search of food. 

 Their young starve to death on the rookeries. I saw vast numbers of such dead 

 pups on the island of St. Paul last summer (1891), and the total number of their 

 carcasses remaining on the Pribilof Islands at the end of the season of 1891 has been 

 estimated by the United States Treasury agents at not less than 20,000. 



The number of seal skins actually secured and sold as a result of pelagic sealing is 

 shown in the following table : 



Inasmuch as the number of seals annually secured by pelagic sealing represents 

 but a fraction of the total number killed, a glance at the^ above figures is enough to* 

 show that the destruction of seal life thus produced is alone sufficient to explain the 

 present depleted condition of the rookeries. 



Pelagic sealing as now conducted is carried on in the North Pacific Ocean from 

 January until late in June, and in Bering Sea in July, August, and September. 

 Some sealing schooners remain as late as November, but they 'do so for the purpose 

 of raiding the rookeries. 



It has been alleged that overkilling of young males at the islands is a principal 

 cause of the depleted condition of the rookeries. 



In reply to this contention, it is only nec ssary to bear in mind that the number of 

 male and female fur seals is equal at birth, that the species is polygamous, and that 

 each male serves on an average at least 15 to 25 females. It is evident, therefore, 

 that there must be a great superabundance of males, of which a large percentage 

 may be killed annually forever without in the slightest degree endangering the pro- 

 ductiveness of the herd. Furthermore, it has been shown that the killing of seals 

 at the Pribilof Islands is completely under the control of man and is restricted to 

 the superfluous males, for selection as to sex and age can be and is exercised, so that 

 neither females nor breeding males are killed. It is evident that this killing of non- 

 breeding males could in no way affect the size or annual product of the breeding- 

 rookeries unless the number killed was so great that enough males were not left to 

 mature for breeding purposes. There is no evidence that this has ever been the case. 

 Moreover, all seals kil.ed or wounded are invariably secured and their skins mar- 

 keted ; in other words, there is neither waste of the seal herd nor impairment of the 

 productiveness of the breeding stock. 



Pelagic sealing, on the other hand, is wasteful in the extreme and is directed to 

 the fountain head or source of supply. From the very nature of the case, selection 

 can not be exercised, and a large, percentage of seals wounded are lost. Owing to 

 the peculiar movements of the seal herds, it so happens that about 90 per cent of the 1 

 seals killed ia the North Pacific are females heavy with young, entailing a destruc- 



