ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 227 



have had more experience and understand their habits better, but 

 notwithstanding this, the catches are decreasing off the coast. (William 

 Brennan.) 



Seals were not as numerous in 1887 as they were in 1877, and it is my 

 belief that the decrease in numbers is due to the hunting and killing of 

 female seals in the water. (James L. Carthcut.) 



Have noticed that seals are becoming very scarce on the coast the 

 last few years. The cause of the scarcity of the seals, I think, is too 

 many schooners in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea and the 

 indiscriminate killing of females with pup in the water. (Peter Church.) 



Q. Has there been any decrease in the quantity of seals as compared 

 to the previous years'? A. I think there has. (Daniel Claussen.) 



Q. If there is a decrease, to what do you attribute it? A. To the 

 killing and hunting of them by seal hunters. I think the indiscriminate 

 killing of seals in Bering Sea is the cause of their scarcity along the 

 coast. (John G. Clement.) 



There were not nearly as many seals to be found in 1889 as there 

 were in 1888. I think the decrease is caused by the great destruction of 

 females killed in the sea by the hunters. (Peter Collins.) 



I attribute this decrease [of the seals] to the terrible slaughter now 

 going on in the sea. (Leander Cox.) 



There can be but one cause for the scarcity of seals, and that is the 

 indiscriminate killing of them in the water, and unless that is stopped 

 the seals must soon be exterminated. The sea otter, which were plenty 

 on this coast at one time, are now scarcely seen at all, and the indis- 

 criminate slaughter of them in the water has almost entirely extermi- 

 nated the animal. Some few remain in the far north, but they are very 

 hard to secure. (William Duncan.) 



Until hunting and killing were commenced by hunters in the open 

 sea, I observed no appreciable decrease in the number arriving, which 

 was about 1884. In my opinion the chasing of the seals and the shoot- 

 ing of them has a tendency to frighten them and disturb them, and 

 prevents their increasing as they would if they were left undisturbed 

 in the waters. (M. 0. Erskine.) 



The large decrease of seals in the waters of the ocean and sea must 

 unquestionably be caused by the indiscriminate killing now going on by 

 poaching schooners, and if not discontinued it will most certainly be a 

 matter of a very few years before the seals will be exterminated. (M. 

 C. Erskine.) 



The seals have most decidedly decreased in number, caused by the 

 continual hunting and killing in the open sea. (F. F. Feeny.) 



I give them four years more, and if they keep on hunting them as 

 they do now there will be no more seals left worth going after. I 

 attribute the decrease in numbers to their being hunted so much. My 

 experience is that the seal herds in the North Pacific and Bering Sea 

 have been greatly depleted within the last few years by the constant 

 pursuit and killing of them in the water by hunters. (George Fogel.) 



In my opinion, seals and all other fur-bearing animals are decreasing, 

 and the cause is pelagic hunting. (William Foster.) 



Q. Has there been any decrease in the quantity of seals as compared 



