THE PACIFIC WALRUS FISHERY. 



By A. HOWARD CLAEK. 



1. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND HABITS OF THE PACIFIC WALRUS. 



The Pacific walrus is found principally in the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. In the latter 

 part of May and the first of June the ice in the sea commences to break up and, borne northward by 

 the current, carries the walrus with it. In the latter part of June they are very abundant in Bering 

 Strait and soon after in the Arctic Ocean. It is while the whaling vessels are waiting in the 

 Arctic near the Asiatic shore for the ice to break up sufficiently to allow a passage across to Point 

 Barrow that they capture the walrus. During this period of waiting, which occupies nearly all of 

 July and part of August, the walrus is found on the ice near the mainland north of the strait and 

 drifting about the open parts of the ocean with the current. 



In August they begin to return through the strait to Bering Sea, and are soon seen in great 

 numbers on St. Matthew's Island and in Bristol Bay. Before October they have all left the Arctic 

 and entered Bering Sea, where they pass their winters waiting until the warm currents of the 

 next summer shall scatter the ice and again bear them northward into the cooler waters of the 

 Arctic. 



One of their chief resorts while in the Arctic is in the vicinity of Cape Serdze-kamen, on 

 the Asiatic shore, where within a range of 130 miles they congregate in great numbers, the ice 

 being black with them for miles. They are always found near the outer edges of the ice, never 

 in the pack, so that they may better watch and observe the movements of one of their principal 

 enemies, the polar bear. These groups of walrus on the ice are by the whalers called " pods." 



They cannot endure great fatigue, and sleep is very necessary to them. In years past it 

 was common for whale-boats to pursue them along the ice pack till the animals would drop 

 asleep in the water and fall an easy prey to their pursuers. They sleep in different positions in 

 the water, often with the head under water and raised only at intervals to breathe, which is done 

 without waking. They often sleep in an upright position and it is an amusing sight to find them 

 wiih their heads above the ice that has congealed around them while taking their repose. 



They apparently have the power of inflating themselves with air so as to float more easily 

 while sleeping, and if suddenly disturbed they cannot go down without expelling the air. They 

 are extremely affectionate toward their young and courageous in defending them. The mother will 

 never leave her calf but will rather perish than forsake it. In making their passage it is common 



to see the mother Carrying her young, the little one clinging with its flippers to its dam. 



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