29 



BEIUNG SEA CATCH, 



In Bi'iinn' Sea pelagic sealing, June to September (June and July being now 

 closed months), means in general the killing of fur seals while temporarily altsent 

 from the islands for the purpose of feeding. 



ALL cows PREGNANT. 



As a rule all females, except yearlings, taken in Bering Sea after the first of 

 August, the present end of the "clo.-e season,' are pregnant. In the very short 

 inter\al between iiartiifition and imjiregnation the bulls never allow the cows to 

 leave the "har<-ms." A certain number of the adult cows (7 i)er cent in 1896) 

 lose their ])U](s early, the young being traiupleil on iu the (juarrels or clumsy move- 

 ments of the bulls. The remaining adult females (93 per cent of the whole num- 

 ber) ha\ e each a- pup, which is lett on shore while the mother goes out to feed. 

 This ])uj) is Vvholiy dependent on its mother's milk I'or nourishnuMit until its depar- 

 ture with her in Xo\ember livmi the islands. Th(3 death of the mother therefore 

 invohes the death of the pup and of the unborn fetus. Yearling females are sex- 

 ually iuHuature. Most of them do not arrive before August 10, when the breed- 

 ing season is virtually over, and their movements are as irregular as those of the 

 young males. The 2-year-old virgin females come to the islands late in .July for 

 iuipregnation and renuiin there for the rest of the season, except for occasional food 

 excursions. 



FEEDING HABITS. 



The adult males never leave their stands on the rookeries during the breeding 

 season. Toward the middle of August they go out to feed, returning at intervals to 

 their place on the rookeries or to sleep on tlie sands tor the remaini!er of their stay 

 on the islands. The young females and bachelors jirobably come and go for food at 

 regular intervals during the sunnner, but as feeding with them is not such an urgent 

 necessity as with the cows they are doubtless less fre(iueut!y found on the feeding 

 grounds and being more timid are not so olten taken by the hunters. The pelagic 

 catch iu Bering Sea is therefore necessarily very largely made up of adult fenuiles. 



PROPORTION OF FEMALES KILLED. 



According to data collected in 1X95 by Mr. A. B. Alexander, while on board the 

 sealing schooner Dora iSieivtrd, (Uit of 1,577 seals comprising the season's catch of 

 that vessel 62 per cent were females. For the most part the sex statistics regarding 

 the pelagic catch are confused and untru.'stworthy, but from additional figures col- 

 lected in 1895 by Mr. C. H. Townsend, the accuracy of which we have no reason to 

 doubt, covering a wider range of conditions, the actual per cent of females is found 

 to rise somewhat above 70. This percentage is not a permanent one, but will change 

 from year to year. A deficiency in land killing raises the percentage of males, and 

 vice versa. The proportion of adult females is in general highest toward the mid- 

 dle of August, the older males going to sea in greater numl)ers, while more young 

 males would betaken in .Inly. The number of pujis (16,019) known to have starved 

 to death on the Pribilof Islands in 1896 through the death of the mothers is about 55 

 per cent of the number of skins (29,398) recorded as bi'ought to ports by vessels 

 engaged in pelagic sealing in Bering Sea. 



PELAGIC SEALING A SUICIDAL INDUSTRY. 



Pelagic sealing in Bering Sea in August is therefore in the highest degree destruc- 

 tive to the herd. If considered as an industry, it is a suicidal one, as it can be profit- 

 ably continued only under conditions which must bring it to a speedy end. Pelagic 

 sealing is therefore not properly an industry at all, as it adds nothing to the wealth 

 of the world. Since it began more than 600,000 fur seals have been taken in the North 

 Pacific and in Bering Sea. This means the death of not less than 400,000 breeding- 

 females, the starvation of 300,000 pups, and the destruction of 400,000 pups still 

 unborn. In this calculation account is taken only of those of whicii the skins have 

 been brought to market. No record of the animals lost after being shot or speared is 

 available, though the number is known to be very great. 



PELAGIC SEALING SOLE CAUSE OF DECLINE OF HERD. 



Pelagic sealing, in the judgment of the members of the present commission, has 

 been the sole cause of the continued decline of the fur seal herds. It is at present the 

 sole obstacle to their restoration and the sole limit to their indefinite increase. It 

 is therefore evident that no settlement of the fur seal ciuestion as regards either the 



