94 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



Northwest Pacific from California to the Shumagin Islands to the rest of the course of 

 the river, its estuary, ami adjacent seucoast. Theanimals breed in the former and feed 

 in the latter, migrating at regular periods from the one to the other. (The question 

 whether the fur seals have any breeding places on the Northwest Coast outside of 

 Bering Sea may be left open, as there seems to be no doubt that the main body breeds 

 at the Pribilofs.) 



(2) An important difference is that the females, bachelors, and yearling fur seals 

 feed largely within a radi'is of say, 50 miles of the l j ribilof Islands, while the adult 

 salmon do not feed (sensibly, at any rate) in the upper waters. 



(3) It is clear in the case of fur seals, as in that of the salmon, that man is an 

 agent of destruction of very great potency, probably outweighing all others. It 

 would be possible in the case of a salmon river to fish it in such a fashion that every 

 ascending or descending fish should be caught, and the fishery be in this way surely 

 and completely destroyed. All our salmon-fishery legislation is directed toward the 

 end of preserving the breeding grounds on the one hand, on the other of preventing 

 the lower- water fishermen from capturing too large a proportion of the ascending 

 fish. 



(4) Our fishery regulations are strict and minute. Every salmon river has its 

 fishery board, composed of representatives of both the upper and the lower water 

 fisheries, whose business it is to make by-laws under the acts of Parliament and to 

 see that they are carried out. A Government inspector of fisheries looks after themj 

 and holds inquiries under the authority of the home secretary in case of disputes. 

 On the whole, the system works well. The fisheries of rivers which have been 

 pretty nearly depopulated have been restored, and the yield of the best is main- 

 tained. But the upper-water and lower-water proprietors are everlastingly at war, 



. each vowing that the other is ruining the fisheries, and the inspector has large oppor- 

 tunities of estimating the value of diametrically opposite assertions about matters 

 of fact. 



(5) In the case of the fur-seal fisheries the destructive agency of man is prepotent 

 on the Pribilof Islands. It is obvious that the seals might be destroyed 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 percentage as shall do no harm to the stock. The conditions for efficient regulation 

 are here quite ideal. 



(fi) But in Bering Sea and on the Northwest coast the case is totally altered. In 

 order to get rid .f all complications, let it be supposed that western North America, 

 from Bering Straits to California, is in the possession of one power, and that we have 

 only to consider the questions of the regulations which that power should make and 

 enforce in order to preserve the fur seal fisheries. Suppose, further, that the author- 

 ity of that power extended over Bering Sea and over all the Northwest Pacific east 

 of a line drawn from the Shumagin Islands to California. 



Under such condition* I should say, looking at nothing biit the preservation of the 

 seals, that the best course would be to prohibit the taking of the fur seals anywhere 

 exeept on the Pribilof Islands, and to limit the take to such percentage as experi- 

 ence 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 overfishiug. 



(7) However, since northwest America does not belong to one power, and since 

 international law does not acknowledge Bering Sea to be a mare clausum, nor rec- 

 ognize the jurisdiction of a Riparian power beyond the 3-mile limit, it is quite clear 

 that this ideal arrangement is impracticable. 



The cause 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 upper waters belong to one 

 power and the lower to another. 



(8) The Northwest Pacific, from California to Shnmagin 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 Great Britain and the United States (backed by a number of 

 active cruisers) might restrain the subjects of both. But what about ships under 

 another flag? 



(9) Moreover, I do not see how the Canadians could be reasonably expected to give 

 up their fishery for the sake of preserving the Pribilof fisheries, 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 Northwest coast fur-seal fisheries 

 shall be considered national property on the part of the United States and Great 

 Britain, to be worked by a joint fishery commission, which shall have power to make 

 by-laws under the terms of a general treaty, to which I suppose other powers (who 

 have hardly any interest in the matter) could be got to agree. 



(11) I am free to confess that my experience of the proceedings of fishery boards 

 does not encourage me to hope that the proceedings of such a commission would be 



