126 REGULATIONS PROPOSED. 



Protective zone miles, within which pelagic sealing shall be pro- 



proposed. 



hibited (Sec. 155b). The Case of the United 

 States has fully dealt with this plan of zonal pro- 

 tection, 1 and the Report itself practically admits 

 the difficulty of enforcing such a prohibition 

 (Sees. 160, 768). 

 Close season pro- The third proposal of the Commissioners is a 



posed. 



close season for pelagic sealing, extending from 

 the 15th of September to the 1st of May in each 

 year, with the additional provision that no sealing 

 vessel shall enter Bering Sea before the 1st of 

 Basis of pro- July in each year (Sec. 155c). This is based on 



posedclososeason. , . - , ., n _ , 



the assumption that males and barren females 

 constitute substantially the whole of the pelagic 

 catch in Bering Sea (Sec. 648). If, however, 

 this could be established, it is at once evident 

 that, if the alleged faults in the management of 

 the Pribilof Islands were corrected, the class of 

 barren females, alleged as forming a large per- 

 centage of the Bering Sea catch (which assertion 

 is advanced as an apology for pelagic sealing), 

 would entirely disappear. Thus the excuse for 

 open-sea sealing is based on the alleged mis- 

 management of the seal rookeries by the United 

 States, 

 close season The period in which sealing- is allowed by the 



would have little x J 



eflcct « regulations proposed is substantially the same as 



'Case of the United States, pp. 256-263. 



