16 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



one who was on the island a few years ago, and who ever paid any 

 attention to the seals when the rookeries were tilled out to their fullest, 

 and thousands were to be seen sporting in the waters around them. 



Indeed, I do not hesitate to say that there was not to exceed 300,000 

 seals on St. Paul and St. George islands in August, 1894. 



It is here the questions naturally arise, "What is the cause of the 

 decrease of the seal herd"? Is there a remedy; and if so, how can it 

 be applied?" 



I shall attempt to answer the questions in the order in which I have 

 stated them, and I aim to show that all of my own views are in strict 

 accord with those whose disinterestedness, practical knowledge, or sci- 

 entific attainments warrant them in expressing views on the question at 

 issue. 



And it will be found, I think, that while we may differ in our estimates 

 of the number of seals on the islands at any particular time or period, 

 or that our notions about methods and management may never be exactly 

 alike, we are all agreed that the cause of the decrease of the fur-seal herd 

 is pelagic sealing. 



Speaking for myself, after an experience of six years on the seal islands, 

 I have no doubt that were it not for pelagic sealing the seal herd would 

 be as numerous and as flourishing to day as it was in 1868 or 1881, or 

 at any other period since the discovery of the islands; nor is it at ran- 

 dom or without long study that I say this, for I have given the subject 

 a great deal of serious thought during the world-wide discussion of the 

 question since 1890. 



When the question of the decrease of the seal herd was first men- 

 tioned publicly as a reality, theories as numerous as the men AV!IO enter- 

 tained them were offered in explanation of the cause of such decrease, 

 and for awhile it was argued with consummate ability and persistent 

 energy by Mr. H. W. Elliott, who was considered an authority on all 

 that relates to fur seals, that the driving from the hauling to the killing 

 grounds injured the young males to the extent of impotency, and thus 

 unfitted them at maturity for service on the breeding grounds. 



A mere idle guess at first, this theory was pushed to the front with 

 energy, although, could angry personal feelings and prejudice have been 

 eliminated from the controversy, the gentleman might have discovered 

 what every scientist, naturalist, and impartial observer saw from the 

 first, that so long as all the cows on the rookeries had pups beside them 

 in season, and every mature cow killed at sea was either a nursing 

 mother or about to become one, the theory of a scarcity of bulls could 

 not be maintained. And after the passions and prejudices existing on 

 the seal islands in 1890 cooled down or had ceased to exist, Mr. Elliott 

 made an affidavit in which he says : 



After carefully examining the situation, actual records, and trustworthy testimony 

 of men engaged in sealing with whom I have conversed, and also from knowledge of 

 the migratory habit and peculiar circumstances of seal life, I am of the opinion that 

 unchecked pelagic sealing is sure, speedy destruction of the Pribilof herd of fur 

 seals; that if allowed to continue and the fleet increases in number of vessels and 

 increased skill of hunters, even though the present modus vivendi should remain in 

 force, it would result in the utter commercial ruin of the herd; that in order to pre- 

 serve the seals from complete destruction, as a commercial factor, it is necessary that 

 pelagic sealing should not only be prohibited in Bering Sea, but also in the North 

 Pacific from the 1st of May until the end of October, annually. The pelagic hunters 

 to-day kill at least 90 per cent cows (the great majority being with young, nearly 

 ready for delivery) in the Pacific Ocean. 



As the physical conditions are such that^it is utterly impossible to discriminate in 

 matters of sex or age when shooting or spearing in the water, it is evident that 

 pelagic sealing can not be regulated in the slightest degree beyond its complete pro- 

 hibition within certain limits. (Elliott's affidavit, 1892; see Appendix.) 



