322 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



The Department understands that you have already suggested to the 

 British Government the appointment of a commission, to consist of 

 members appointed by the Governments of Great Britain, Russia, 

 Japan, and the United States, to examine further into the sealing ques- 

 tion, and that pending their examination and report a modus vivendi 

 be agreed upon, one clause of which provides for closing Bering Sea to 

 pelagic sealing absolutely. This communication is sent you to further 

 inform you that the official figures of last season's catch, now definitely 

 known, fully bear out the wisdom and necessity of such a change in 

 the provisions of the award. 



Trusting that some arrangement as above suggested may be agreed 

 upon, I have the honor to be, 

 Respectfully, yours, 



J. G. CARLISLE, Secretary. 



The SECRETARY OF STATE. 



[Inelosure.j 



TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 

 Washington, I). C., January 21, 1895. 



SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the following resolution, dated 

 the llth of December, 1894, of the House of Representatives: 



"Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be requested to furnish the House 

 with information 



"1. As to whether the articles of the Bering Sea Tribunal, convened at Paris in 

 1893, for the regulation of the fur-seal industry of Alaska, have resulted during the 

 last season in saving the fur-seal herds from that destruction which these articles 

 were intended to prevent. 



"2. Whether the Secretary has authentic information of the probable number and 

 sex of Alaskan fur seals killed in the last season by pelagic sealers ; and if so, what 

 such information is; and in view of such facts, what, in the judgment of the Secre- 

 tary, will be the practical result of these articles if carried out in good faith for the 

 future. 



"3. What is the present condition of the fur-seal herds on the Pribilof Islands? 



"4. What has been the revenue derived by the Government from the fur-seal herds 

 of Alaska during the past season, and also what has been the expenditure during the 

 same period in executing the regulations of the Paris award?" 



In reply to the first inquiry I have to state that the number of seals taken by pelagic 

 sealers in the North Pacific Ocean for the season just expired and entered at United 

 States and British Columbia ports, as contained in the accompanying table, com- 

 piled from official reports of collectors of customs in the United States and reports 

 transmitted by the United States consul at Victoria, British Columbia, compiled by 

 him from the official statements of the collector of customs at that port, aggregate 

 121,143. Of this number 55,686 were taken from the so-called Alaska seal herd in the 

 North Pacific Ocean and in Bering Sea ; 58,621 were taken off the coasts of Japan and 

 Russia, leaving 6,836 undetermined. Ninety-five vessels were employed, 60 belong- 

 ing to Great Britain and 35 to the United States. 



As appears in said table, the actual number of seals killed in 1894 exceeds the 

 amount of skins entered as above by about 20,000, making the total catch about 

 142,000. This balance of 20,000 skins was probably shipped to London via Suez 

 Canal from the Asiatic Coast. 



From these figures it becomes evident that during the present season there has been 

 an unprecedented increase over preceding years in the number of seals killed by 

 pelagic sealers, both in American and Asiatic waters. This increase lias caused an 

 alarming decrease in the number of seals on the islands, as hereinafter explained. A 

 significant fact in this connection is the unprecedented number of dead pups found 

 on the islands this season which presumably died of starvation, their mothers being 

 killed at sea. Our agent counted over 12,000 on the accessible portions of the rook- 

 eries alone. He estimates, upon said count, a total of nearly 20,000. It should be 

 remembered that at the close of the season of 1893, when pelagic sealing was prohib- 

 ited in Bering Sea, less than 1,000 were found on St. Paul Island, no count having 

 been made on the Island of St. George. 



The alarming increase in the number of seals killed by pelagic sealers, and the fur- 

 ther fact that in four or five weeks the vessels in Bering Sea, only about one-third 

 of the total number, killed more seals than were taken in the four months sealing on 



