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times, because they were supposed to be depleting the fisheries. 

 The trouble may be only temporary, or it may be due to causes 

 other than predation by seals, but the mere fact that seals are nearby 

 leads to their becoming the scapegoats. The outcry against seals has 

 been particularly strong in recent years against the fur seals of the 

 northeast Pacific, where they are accused of depleting the salmon. 



The results of this persecution by the canning industry, how- 

 ever, is small by comparison with the sealers themselves, who killed 

 nursing mothers and young, and simply left mortally injured 

 animals to die in the sea. There was, therefore, a proportionately 

 high wastage compared with the total harvest of skins. 



Seals, like other animals, are bound by tradition and by their 

 physical requirements. In spite of their complete adaptation to life 

 in the water, which theoretically should give them great freedom 

 of movement and therefore an escape from persecution, they still 

 cling to traditional beaches for breeding, and their distribution also 

 seems to be limited by temperature. The limit of distribution for 

 the monk seals of the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic corre- 

 sponds to the winter isotherm of 20° c. 



The fact that human communities have been able to survive in 

 the Arctic was due largely to the presence of seals. Crantz, in his 

 History of Greenland (1767) describes the uses made of the seal 

 harvest: "The flesh supplies [the Greenlanders] with their principal, 

 most palatable, and substantial food. The fat furnishes them with 

 oil for their lamps and fires; they use it also with their food; and 

 barter it for other necessaries with the factor. They find the fibres 

 of the sinews better for sewing with than thread or silk. Of the 

 skins of the entrails they make their windows, curtains for their 

 tents, and shirts ; and part of the bladders they use in fishing, as 

 buoys or floats to their harpoons. Of the bones they formerly made 



Today there are strict controls governing 

 ttie number of fur seals killed. Above 

 is a large herd on the beach of one of 

 the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. 



Seals and v/alrus have long provided the 

 Eskimo with his basic needs. From the tusks 

 and bones he made tools; other parts of 

 the body provided him with fuel, clothing, 

 food, his kayak, and house furnishings. 



105 



