ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 127 



PROHIBITION IN BERING SEA AND NORTH PACIFIC NECESSARY. 



After carefully examining the situation, actual records, and trust- 

 worthy testimony of men engaged in sealing, with whom I have con- 

 versed, 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 preserve 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 prohibition within certain limits. 

 A zone or belt of 30 or even more miles about the Pribilof Islands will 

 be entirely ineffective. No pelagic sealing can be permitted in Bering 

 Sea with safety to the preservation of the herd, and the prohibition 

 should extend into the North Pacific to a period sufficiently early (at 

 least by the 1st of May) in the season to protect in great measure the 

 pregnant female seals as they pass along up the coast. 



The visit which I rniade to the Pribilof Islands in 1890 satisfied me 

 that a very great decrease had taken place in the seal herd which 

 annually resorts to those islands. My observations in 1872, 1874, and 

 1876 led me to the conclusion that, provided matters were conducted 

 in the seal islands as they were then, 100,000 male seals under 5 years 

 of age might be safely taken each year without injury to the regular 

 birth rates or natural increase of the herd, provided no abnormal cause 

 of destruction occurred. But in 1890 1 found an entirely diiferent condi- 

 tion of affairs existing. This decrease I attribute in the greatest meas- 

 ure to the pelagic sealing above mentioned. Its effect has been so great 

 that there is demanded, in my opinion, a cessation of all killing on the 

 islands, except for the necessities of the natives for a few years, as well 

 as the permanent prohibition of pelagic sealing, as already indicated, 

 thus giving an opportunity for the herd to reestablish itself approxi- 

 mately to its normal conditions. When the killing is again permitted 

 on the islands for commercial purposes the regulations of the Treasury 

 Department can be rigidly enforced, overdriving can easily be prevented, 

 and the present killing of pups by the natives for food should be pro- 

 hibited, at least until the herd shall have reached the form and condi- 

 tion which I found during 1872-1876. 



With such regulations in force, and with pelagic sealing discontinued, 

 it may be confidently anticipated that within a few years this species, 

 so valuable to the human race, will be restored to a condition which 

 will render it valuable once again to the commerce of the civilized 

 world ; and this restoration will prove enduring. 



HENRY W. ELLIOTT. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me, a notary public in and for the 

 District of Columbia, this 13th day of April, 1892. 

 [L. s.] SEVELLON A. BROWN. 



