110 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIB1LOF ISLANDS. 



islands.' Logically, we would have to stop killing on the islands alto- 

 gether and turn them into breeding grounds for the use of a class of 

 sportsmen who are fond of the manly art of hunting gravid female 

 seals and cutting out their unborn young. 



Turning to the ''alternative methods of regulation"* suggested by 

 the commissioners we find that they, too, were possessed of the same 

 thought, for they ' suggest : r 



Entile prohibition of killing on one of the breeding islands, with suitable con- 

 current regulations at sea. The entire reservation and protection of one of the two 

 larger islands of the 1'ribilof group, either >t. 1'aul or St. <Jeorge Island, might be 

 assured: such island to be maintained as an undisturbed breeding place, upon which 

 no seals shall be killed for any purpose. On the remaining islands the number of 

 seals killed for commercial purposes would remain wholly under the control of the 

 Government of the I'niteu States. 



In consideration of the guaranteed preservation of a breeding island, with the 

 purpose of insuring the continuance of the seal stock in the common interest, a /.one 

 of protected waters might be established about the I'ribilof Islands, such 



provisions at sea to have, as far as possible, quanti valcnt relation to those established 

 on the breeding islands. ^See section KM.) 



<! rowing bolder and bolder as they proceed they finally come for- 

 ward with a suggestion, which, for downright coolness, may well claim 

 "first place" among all the cool propositions made in any age or coun- 

 try; it is nothing less than the ''total prohibition of killing on the breed- 

 ing islands, with concurrent strict regulation of pelagic sealing."' 



Here, at last, the mask is thrown off and the commissioners stand 

 forth in their true character of "advocates" for the pelagic sealer and 

 apologists for his horrible methods. 



It does not take long to get at the meaning of the "suggestions" 

 offered, for a careful reading shows at once the whole animus of the 

 thing is to prevent the killing of seals on the seal islands, and to turn 

 the whole herd over to the pelagic sealer. 



Had the most heartless of all the pelagic sealers been given carte 

 blanche to write suggestions, the adoption of which would inure to his 

 own bonolit, he could not improve on those of the British Bering Sea 

 commissioners. 



This may seem to be a hard saying, but. from the testimony given by 

 the pelagic sealers themselves, it is well known that the killing of 

 female seals anywhere is sure destruction to the herd; and the British 

 commissioners have admitted it to be on more than one occasion. 



Speaking of the indiscriminate killing of the seals at sea. they say: 



But it is unfortunately the case that at certain seasons considerable numbers of 

 gravid females arc thus killed, and this killing is deprecated by the better classes 

 of the pelagic sealers themselves, not alone on grounds of humanity, but because 

 they see clearly that it is unduly destructive to the industry in which their fortunes 

 are embarked. ( Report of British Bering Sea commissioners, section (i!>!>, p. 109.) 



And yet the gentlemen who say so are the same men who have 

 "suggested" the "total prohibition of killing on the breeding islands' 7 

 and the turning over of the, seals to indiscriminate slaughter. 



The commissioners were instructed to ascertain: 



First. The actual facts as regards the alleged serious diminution of seal life on the 

 Pribilof Islands, the date at which such diminution began, the rate of its progress, 

 and any previous instance of a similar occurrence. 



Second. The causes of such diminution; whether, and to what extent, it is 

 attributa hie 



(a) To a migration of the seals to other rookeries. 



(h) 'I o the method of killing pursued on the islands themselves. 



(c) To the increase of sealing upon the high seas, and the manner in which it i 

 pursued. 



