FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 213 



a course would be quite sufficient, siuce the seal is a hearty feeder aud 

 would follow its source of food supply. But fish are now luore abuudaiit, 

 if anythiug, than ever thus far iu the waters of the Alaskan Coast, and 

 the seals have no cause on thatr score to deviate from their regular 

 route of travel. 



LOSS OF SEALS BY PELAGIC HUNTERS. 



Witnesses under oath before the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 

 Fiftieth Congress, second session, report No. 3S83. 



T. F. Morgan (p. 64). Q. What number of seals are recovered that are killed in the 

 waters? — A. I could not state it as a positive fact, but I should say not over 50 })er 

 cjafc. 



W. B. Taylor (p. 54). Q. When they kill the seals in the water, about what propor- 

 tion of them do they recover? — A. I do not lielieve more tlian one- fourth of them. 



C. A. Williams (p. 87). Q. And the couditious are as bad? — A. Yes, sir; and often 

 worse, for this reason: If you kill a })U]) you destroy a sin,<;'le life, iiut in killini;' a 

 cow you not only destroy the life that may be, but the source from wliich life comes 

 hereafter, aud wheu they arc killed there in the Avater by a shotgun or spear, the 

 l^roportion saved by the hunters is probably not one in seven. That was their own 

 estimate, that out of eight shots they would save one seal aud seven were lost. If 

 they were killed on the land, those seven would go toward filling up their score. 



H. H. Mclntyre (p. 118). C^. What proportion of the seals shot in the water are 

 recovered and the skins taken to market f — A. I think not more than one-tilth of those 

 shot are recovered. Many are badly wounded and escape. We find every year, 

 embedded in blubber of^ animals killed upon the islands, large quantities of bullets, 

 shot, and buckshot. Last year my men brought to me as much as a double handful 

 of lead found by them embedded in this way. 



George R. Tingle (p. 164). Q. The waste of seal life was only 53 in 1887? — A. Yes, 

 sir; in securing 100,000 skins, while these marauders did not kill, last year, less than 

 500,000. The logs of marauding schooners have fallen into my hands, and they have 

 convinced me that they do not secure more than one seal out of every ten that they 

 mortally wound and kill, for the reason that the seals sink very (luickly in the 

 water. Allowing one out often, there would be 800,000 that they would kill in get- 

 ting 30,000 skins. Two hundred thousand of those killed would be females having 

 200,000 pups on shore. Those pups would die by reason of the death of their mothers, 

 which, added to the 300,000, makes half a million destroyed. I am inclined to think, 

 because the seals show they axe not increasing, or rather that they are at a stand- 

 still, that more than 300,000 are killed by marauders. 



T. F. Ryan (p. 220.) The number of seals taken by marauders from seal islands, 

 or in the waters nearby, are very few in comparison to the great numbers taken in 

 the 50 or 60 miles south of the islands. Old seal hunters seldom bother the islands, 

 and from the information to be had, 95 per cent of seals taken by seal hunters in 

 Bering Sea are taken at a distance of from 40 to 75 miles south of St. (ieorge Island, 

 and 90 per cent of those taken are cows, the producers. 



Capt. L. G. Shepard (p. 237). Q. It has been stated in testimony here that not 

 one out of five, six, or seven of the seals wounded in the water are recovered. I 

 think you put the estimate a little lower than that. Have you any knowledge on 

 the subject? — A. I think they recover about one-half. 



Capt. C. A. Abbey (p. 246). Q. What was j'our opinion about that? — A. In the 

 earlier days they shot them with bullets and with rifies, and when they are shot 

 with a bullet the seal sinks, and probably out of half a dozen they would not get 

 more than one. If the seals are not killed, but simply wounded, that leaves a chance 

 to get them into a boat. They were very expert hunters who hired for that purpose, 

 but I .judge that they killed about three for every one they got. I got that from the 

 conversation with the hunters themselves. 



J. C. Redpath (p. 316). Q. And if they wound a seal in the water, the seal is likely 

 to sink before they can recover it? — A. There is no doubt about that. 



Q. What proportion do they recover of those that are killed by firearms in the 

 water? — A. Very few, I should suppose. I have never seen a seal shot in tlie water. 

 I have known of sea lions that if wounded in the water could be recovered, but if 

 shot and killed they will sink. 



Q. In your judgment, what proportion of seals that are shot in the water are 

 recovered? — A. It is hardly possible to recover one-half of them. 



H. H. Mclntyre (p. 332) submitted the following extracts from the log of the 

 schooner Angel Dolly, kept by Capt. Alfred N. Tulles, who was accidentally killed 

 by his own hand on the 28th of July, 1887, near OtCir Island: 



July 4, 1887,— Howe to 30 miles aouthwejt of St, George Island. At 1.30 out boats. 

 Got 5 seals. 



