SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 221 



1 am convinced that the decrease in the rookeries was caused entirely 

 by open-sea sealing. (Abial P. Loud.) 



There were no destructive agencies at work upon the island that 

 would not have left the rookeries in better condition in 1890 than they 

 were in 1870. I'ntil the effects of the true agent of destruction began 

 to be manifest there was an excess of male lite on the islands sullicient 

 to permit of an annual catch of 100.000 seals for an indefinite period 

 without jeopardizing the rookeries. If it be remembered that the, seals 

 taken in the waters by hunters are chietly females, that their young- 

 die with them, and that all of those killed are not secured, and if then 

 an examination be made of the pelagic skins actually sold during the 

 past twenty years, the real source of the depletion of the rookeries will 

 be found. In my judgment such depletion was caused by pelagic seal- 

 ing, and that it grew greater from year to year, as the number of 

 so-called poaching schooners increased, and that its effects began to 

 manifest themselves about 1885 or 1886. The depletion on both haul- 

 ing and breeding grounds is accounted for by the fact that the catch 

 of said sealers consists of at least 85 per cent cows. Said cows, when 

 taken in the North Pacific, are in the majority of cases with pups, and 

 in Bering Sea are so-called milking females. Whenever a milking cow 

 is killed, her pup on the rookeries dies of starvation. In support of 

 this fact last stated, the number of dead pups during the last four years 

 I was upon the islands increased annually. The effect of the compara- 

 tively few raids upon the rookeries themselves, while injurious, bear 

 but a small ratio to the enormous damage done by the pelagic hunting. 

 Those in charge of the islands did not, when the decrease on the rook- 

 eries commenced, know exclusively the cause thereof. My opinion then 

 was that it was caused by pelagic sealing, but I had been informed 

 and believed that the United States Government intended to seize all 

 such poaching vessels. Relying upon such information I authorized 

 the taking of seals as before. The proper protection of seal life was 

 not fully carried out in Bering Sea and the North Pacific by reason of 

 England's interference, and the rookeries were thus depleted. (H. H. 

 Mclntyre.) 



Froni statements made by personal acquaintances and friends, I 

 became aware of a rapid decrease in seal life in Alaska, and reports of 

 pelagic sealing, as made public through the press, combined with pre- 

 vious personal affairs as existing prior to 1882, leaves no possible doubt 

 as to the cause of such decrease of seals. Pelagic sealing as practiced 

 prior to the year 1882 had no apparent effect upon seal life, and even 

 when to this was added the taking of a definite number year after year 

 under lease from the United States Government, there was still a con- 

 stant increase of seals observed. I am, therefore, fully confirmed in 

 the belief that the decrease in their numbers is due solely to the indis- 

 criminate killing at sea of all ages, regardless of sex, as practiced since 

 1884. (H. W. Mclutyre.) 



The seals have rapidly decreased since sealing vessels appeared, but 

 before the inroads of these seal hunters there was no trouble in obtain- 

 ing the full quota of the best grades of skins, as the herds previous to 

 that time had been noticeably increasing. (John Malowansky.) 



Q. To what do you attribute the decrease in the number of seals on 

 the rookeries? A. To the great number of cows killed by poachers, 

 and consequently less pups are born on the rookeries. 



Q. How do you know that cows have been killed by poachers? A. 

 I have handled and seen a great number of skins captured by the rev- 



