14'J SEAL LIFK ON THE I'KIl'.LLoF ISLANDS. 



regulations the lessees were unable to take more than L'1.L'.">S seals of 

 the killable age o!' from 1 to .""> years during the season of ISiH). so great 

 had lieeii tlie decrease of seal life in one \ear. and it would have been 

 impossible to obtain <;o.t!0t> skins e\ en if tiie time had been unrestricted. 



The Table A appended to t his affidavit shows how great had been the 

 <i riea>e on St. Paul Island hauling grounds, bearing in mind the fact 

 that the' driving and killing was done by the same persons as in former 

 years, and was as diligently earned on. the weather being as favorable 

 as in l!Mor seal driving. I belie vet hat the sole cause of the decrease is 

 pelagic sealing, whieh from reliable information 1 understand to have 

 increased greatly since 1SS1 or is,s,"i. Another fact 1 have gained from 

 reliable sources is that the great majority of seals taken in the open sea 

 are pregnant or females in milk. It is an unquestionable fact that the 

 killing of these females destroys the pups they are carrying or nursing. 

 The result is that this destruction of pups takes about equally from the 

 male and iemale increase of the herd, and when so many male pups are 

 killed in this manner, besides the KM MM H) taken <>n the islands, it neces- 

 sarily affects t he number of killable seals. In ISS'.i this drain upon male 

 seal life showed itself on the islands, and this, in my opinion, accounts 

 for the necessity of the lessees taking so many young seals that vear to 

 till out t heir quota. 



As soon as the effects of the pelagic sealing were noticed by me upon 

 the islands I reported the same, and the Government at once took steps 

 to limit the killing upon the islands, so that the rookeries might have 

 an opportunity to increase their numbers to their former condition : but 

 it will be impossible to repair the depletion if pelagic sealing continues. 

 I have no doubt, as i reported, that the taking of 100.000 skins in 1S8J) 

 affected the male life on the islands, and cut into the reserve of male 

 seals necessary to preserve annually for breeding purposes in t he fut ure, 

 but this fact did not become evident until it was too late to repair the 

 fault that year. Kxcept for the numbers destroyed by pelagic sealing 

 in the years previous to 1SS!) the hauling grounds would not have been 

 so depleted, and the taking of 100,000 male seals would not have 

 impaired the reserve for breeding purposes or diminished to any extent 

 the seal life on the Pribilof Islands. Kven in this diminished state of 

 the rookeries in IS.Sil I carefully observed that in the majority of cases 

 the 4 and ,"* year old males were allowed to drop out of a "drive" 

 before the bachelors had been driven any distance from the 1 hauling 

 grounds. These seals were let go for the sole purpose of supplying 

 sufficient future breeders. 



.V few seals are injured by redriving (often conflicted with overdriv- 

 ing and sometimes so called). but the number so injured is inconsiderable 

 and could have no appreciable effect upon seal life through destroying 

 the virility of the male. The decrease, caused by pelagic sealing, com- 

 pelled whatever injurious redriving has taken place on the islands, as 

 it was often necessary to drive every two or three da\ s from the same 

 hauling grounds, which caused many seals let go in a former "drive" 

 to be driven over aain before thorouhl rested. If a "drive 



depleted the rookeries, there would be no damage at all resulting from 

 redriving. 



In my opinion pelagic sealing is t he cause of redriving on the islands, 

 the depletion of I he rookeries, and promises to soon make the Alaska 



