ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 

 Seal skins landed at Victoria from Bering Sea, etc. Continued. 



161 



Actual number of skins seized 11,618 or 11,902. See page 337 United States counter case. J. S. B. 

 NOTE. The interrogation point { f ) following figures in 1887 column indicates doubt as to the correct- 

 ness of the report. 



Number of Victoria and Northwest Coast fur-seal skins sent to market from 1881 to 1889, 



inclusive. 



The above totals are believed to be very nearly correct, having been 

 compiled from the London catalogues of sales, but the numbers caught, 

 respectively, in Bering Sea and the North Pacific are not definitely 

 known. The catch of the North Pacific has been ascertained by deduct- 

 ing the number reported from the Victoria custom-house records as 

 having been taken in Bering Sea from the total number sold in London. 



It will be noticed that nearly in proportion as the Bering Sea catch 

 increased, that of the Northern Pacific decreased; and, that while the 

 total catch of 1888, following the seizures and repression of 1887, was 

 not very materially less, the proportion taken from Bering Sea was muh 

 smaller than in the preceding and following year. 



The inference may be clearly drawn that to the extent to which illicit 

 sealing is suppressed in Bering Sea, it will be more active in the North 

 Pacific, and that the simple closure of the former body of water against 

 marauders will do little toward the effective protection of seal life. 

 H. Doc. 92, pt. 2 11 



