276 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



or 6. One or two other poaching vessels also made large catches that 

 is, over 1,200 skins but the average catch of the poaching vessels is 

 not more than a lew hundred each. This is true, although the poach- 

 ing vessels are now equipped with much more experienced shooters, 

 with better rifles, and with better boats than any of the vessels had 

 five years ago. Many of the poaching vessels now have boats pointed 

 at both ends, so that they can go backward and forward with equal 

 ease; the old poacher only had ordinary ships' boats. Deponent 

 knows this to be true because he has seen the boats and talked with 

 the captains of the schooners about them. (Herman Liebes.) 



I never saw many sealing schooners before 1884, but they have been 

 coming more and more every year since, and I notice that as the schoon- 

 ers multiply in the sea the seals decrease on the rookeries. (Aggei 

 Kushen.) 



From 1885 to the present time the fleet of predatory vessels has con- 

 stantly increased in proportion as the seal herd has decreased on the 

 rookeries. * * * A very noticeable decrease in the herd commenced, 

 as I have already pointed out, in 188(>, and was coincident in time and 

 proportionate in extent with the number of seals destroyed in the water. 

 The business of pelagic sealing in Bering Sea first assumed consider- 

 able proportions in 1884, and in that year dead pup seals first became 

 numerous enough upon the rookeries to excite remark upon the islands. 

 As the sealing fleet increased the starved animals became more numer- 

 ous. In 1887 fourteen vessels were seized for illegal sealing, and the 

 effect was seen in the following year, when a much less number engaged 

 in the business and the Bering Sea catch amounted, as I am informed, 

 to about 34,000 skins against about 19,000 or 20,000 in 1888. The failure 

 of the United States Government to vigorously pursue in 1888 and the 

 following years the repressive policy so auspiciously begun in 1887, led 

 to a large increase of the sealing fleet and corresponding destruction of 

 the herd, but the prohibition of pelagic sealing nevertheless continued, 

 and the usual proclamation was published by the Government warning 

 all parties not to kill seals in Bering Sea or waters adjacent to the 

 Alaskan coast. (H. H. Mclntyre.) 



Up to 1883 and 1884 it was only an occasional venturesome vessel 

 that came around and secured a few hundred skins and thought itself 

 lucky and cleared out, but since that time not even the smallest craft 

 is satisfied unless it secures its thousands of pelts regardless of sex. 

 (W. S. Hereford.) 



While in Bering Sea during the summer of 1869 I never saw a vessel 

 sealing about the islands or anywhere in the sea, nor did I hear any 

 report of the presence of such sealing vessels in those waters. (J. A. 

 Henriques.) 



I do not know of any sealing schooner that went to Bering Sea until 

 Captain McLean went there about nine years ago in the Favorite. 

 (William Parker.) 



Q. What effect, in your opinion, does the increase in the number of 

 poaching vessels in Bering Sea have upon seal life? A. Since the 

 number of sealing vessels has increased the number of seals coming to 

 the islands has correspondingly decreased. * * * In 1884 the seal- 

 ing schooners became numerous. I believe there were about 30 in the 

 sea that year, and they have increased very rapidly every year since, 

 until now there are said to be about 120. (J. C. Eedpath.) 



