62 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



During the winter solstice — between the liqise of the Jiutuninal and the verging 

 of the vernal eqninoxes — in order to get this enormous food sui)ply, the fur seals are 

 necessarily obliged to disperse over a very large area of tishing ground, ranging 

 throughout the North Pacilic, 5,000 miles across between .)ai)an and the Straits of 

 Fuca. In feeding they .are broiigl t to the southward all this time, and as they go 

 they come more and more in contact with tlujee natural enemies peculiar to the sea 

 of these southern latitudes, which are almost strangers and are really unknown to 

 the waters of Bering Sea; for I did not observe, with the exception often or twelve 

 perhaps, certainly no more, killer whales, a single marine disturl)ance or molestation 

 during the three seasons which I passed upon the islands that could be regarded in 

 the slightest decree inimical to the peace and life of the rinnipedia; and tlius, from 

 my observation, I am led to believe that it is not until they descend well to the south 

 of the Aleutian Islands and in the North I'acific, that they meet with sharks to any 

 extent, and are diminished excejit by the butchery of killer Avhales in Bering Sea. 



The young fur seals going out to sea for the first time, and following in the wake 

 of their elders, are the clumsy members of the family. When they go to sleep on the 

 surface of the %vater they rest much sounder than the others ; and their alert and wary 

 nature, which is handsomely develo])ed ere they are two seasons old, is in its infancy. 

 Hence I believe that vast numbers of them are easily captured by marine foes as they 

 are stupidly s]eei)ing or awkwardly iishing. 



AVith reference to the; amount of ground covered by the seals when first discovered 

 by the Russians, I have examined every foot of the shore line of both islands where 

 the bones and polished rocks, etc., might be lying on any deserted areas. Since then, 

 after carefully surveying the new ground now occupied, by the seals and comparing 

 this area with that which they have deserted, I feel justified in stating that for the 

 last twelve or fifteen years at least the fur seals on these islands have not diminished, 

 nor have they increased as a body to any noteworthy degree; and throughout this 

 time the ))reeding grounds have not been disturbed except at that brief but tumul- 

 tuous interregnum during 186S, and they have been living since in a perfectly cxuiet 

 and natural condition. 



CAN THE NUMBER BE INCUEASKD? 



What can be done to promote their increa.se? We can not cause a greater nmnber 

 of females to be born every year than are born now; we do not touch or disturb 

 these females as they grow up and live, and we never will if the law and present 

 management is continued. We save double — we save more tlian enough males to 

 serve; nothing more can be done by human agency. It is beyond our power to pro- 

 tect them from their deadly marine enemies as they wander into the boundless 

 ocean searching for food. 



In view, therelbre, of all these facts I have no hesitation in saying — ((uite confi- 

 dently — that under the present rules and regulations governing the sealing interests 

 on these islands the increase or diminution of the seal life thereon will amount to 

 nothing in tlie future; that the seals \\ ill exist, as they do exist, in all time to come 

 at about the same number and C(niditiou recorded in this monograph. To test this 

 theory of mine 1 here, in the record of my surveys of the rookeries, have put stakes 

 down which will answer u])on those breeding grounds as a correct guide as to their 

 present as well as to their future condition from year to year. « 



The theory has been well tested. I was right in then assnmiug that 

 no increase could be noted over the record of 1872-1874; bat I was 

 wrong- in then believing that no injury to the regular supply of young 

 inahi life ne(!essary lor the full support of the bleeding grounds woukl 

 follow from the driving and killing of the holluschickie as conducted; 

 also, the deadly work of the pelagic sealer was not suggested in any 

 serious sense sixteen years ago, and I did not take it into calculation. I 

 liave given, in my letter of introduction, the reason why this driving of 

 the holluschickie has been so destructive to young male seal life — a 

 reason which I could not grasp in 1872-1874, since it required time and 

 experience to <le\elo]) tlie fact beyond argument and contradiction. It 

 is easy to see now in the clear light of the record, that had there been 

 no sealing at sea, and had every young male seal been taken in every 

 drive made from the outset in 1871, over 1 year old and under 5, the 

 annual quota of 100,000 would have been easily tilled without injury 

 whatsoever, in less than twenty working days from the 14th of every 

 June, with only one-quarter of the driving necessary under the past 

 and x)resent order of culling out the largest seals for slaughter and 



