34 



LITTLE l>i\XGEl{ OF OVEIJKILLING. 



Ovoikilliii^' of iiiiiles iu sncli a way ns to iujure tlie herd lias never occurred ou 

 the Pribilof Islands, certainly not in Aniorican times. Under present conditions it 

 coul<l hardly be bronght about. A certairi number of vigorous and otherwise unin- 

 jured males are every year rejected on the killin;^ grounds and allowed to escape to 

 the sea because of some defect in the .'jkin, as a scar I'rom a bite. In addition to this 

 there are on .St. I'aul two rookeries of considerable size (Sivntch h'ock and LajL;'oon), 

 besides .several minor haulino; grounds, from which bachelors aie never driven, and. 

 which in themselves are probably capable ol' 8upi)lyiug from year to year the neces- 

 sary augment of bulls. 



It has, however, been suggested that such overkilling has occurred, and as an 

 attempt has been made to connect it with the beginning of the decline of the herd 

 1)3' sui)])Osing that a1 some time there were not enough bulls to ser\'e the cows, and 

 that the usual number of piips was not born, it may therefore be worth while to 

 consider the facts iu the case. 



The decline of the fur seal herd began to be noticeable from 1886 to 1890, nuirkedly 

 so in the last-named year. If due iu any sense to a scarcity of bulls, such scarcity 

 must have occ-urred three years previous, as a falling off iu the birth of pups could 

 only be noticed at the time when they would naturally return as IJ-year-olds to the 

 hreeding and killing groumls. There is nothing in the history of these yeais to war- 

 rant the sui)])ositi(in that there was a scarcity of Itulls. There is in fact no evidence 

 whatever that any normal adult female on the island over failed of impregnation. 



But we are not i'orced to rely on negative evidence. There is positive i)i'oof that 

 such a scarcity of bulls as to cause failure in impregnation coukl not have existed. 

 In 1876 and 1877, instead of the full (]Uota of 100,000 skins, lor commercial reasons, 

 only 8'J, 000 and 7."), 000, resi;ectively, were taken, the market being overstocked. In 

 1875 and 1878 the fail (]uota of 100, OOi) skins was taken. Theie is no reason for sup- 

 posing that the full (juota could not have been taken in the intervening years. As 

 a result of this reduction in th(5 killings for 1876 and 1877, 35,000 young luiUs must 

 have been saved o!i the I'ribilof Islands, and these in 1885-86 must have been 10 

 years of age and still iu their prime when the decline of the herd was well under 

 way. 



OVEHKILLING .\S AEI'KCTING THE FUTURE QUOTA. 



Overkilling iu tlie sense of premature killing has occurred beyond a doubt. This 

 affects the (|uota of future years, but does not injure the henl itself. There is every 

 reason to belie%'e that in 1887 to 188 1 the fixed quota of 100,000 skins had become 

 too great for the de])leted herd, the i)ups of three years before having been largely 

 starved to death under the action of ])elagic sealing. For this reason the supply of 

 3-year-old seals fell short and the deliciency was made up bj' drawing on the 2-year- 

 olds. This iu turn increased the difliculty iu getting the quota for the sncceediug 

 year, and the cut went dee])er until it reached even the larger yearlings. The effect 

 of this action shows itself clearly in the drop from 100,000 skins in 1889 to 21,000 iu 

 1890. In the j>receding j^ear almost all 2-year-olds and many of the yearlings had 

 been taken. This sudden drop does not represent a correspondingly suddeu reduction 

 in the size of the herd.. It might occur even if the herd wer«! increasing. As a matter 

 of fart, at the time, the herd h.ad been slowly lint steadily declining under pelagic 

 sealing. The lixed quota of 10i),000 had been kept up by lowering the size of skins. 

 Instead of reducing the quota as the herd declined, the original number was nuiin- 

 tained until the killing came to an abrupt stop. Ikil it can not be too strongly 

 emphasized that the breeding herd need not be affected if the wandering bachelors 

 on the hauling grounds had been wholly extiri)ated. 



Had such close killing as this been continued indefinitely it would possibly have 

 been disastrous in time, although this is far from certain. It was, however, fol- 

 lowed iu 1892-93 by an almost complete cessation of killing of males pending the 

 modus Vivendi. The result of this action is shown in the ])resent overstocked con- 

 dition of the islands as to bulls, a condition <loubtles3 more injurious to the herd 

 than a moderate deficiency in male life would be. 



No doubt the difficulty of getting the (^uota in the later eighties was slightly 

 intensified by the wasteful practice then permitted of killing each fall 3,000 to 5,000 

 male ])ups for food. If, as there is some reason to suppose, in the early years of this 

 practice absolute care was not taken to select only males, then the killing of pups 

 may have had au insignificant share in addition to iielagic sealing iu reducing the 

 herd. But such effect, if ever felt, could have been only temporary, as after the first 

 year or two there is no doubt that the killing was restricted to male jiups only. 



OVERKILLING OF MALES NOT A CAUSE OF DECLINE OF HERD. 



Overkillingof males, therefore, does not enter as a factor in the diminution of the 

 seal herd. Overkilling as afifecting the quota occurred only iu the later eighties, and 

 the conditions were at the time of a special nature. Such killing would not naturally 



