218 OFFICIAL REPORTS. 



minute of the time they were hit. Our total loss by sinking and wound- 

 ing was 36 per cent. 



During the period covered by my investigations in Bering Sea no 

 gravid cows have been taken nor have any of this 

 taken gravid cows year's pups been seen in the water, save along the im- 

 mediate shores of the rookeries, where they were learn- 

 ing to swim. In this connection I have to state that in my judgment 

 the origin of the erroneous impression that a mother seal sometimes 

 Peiao-ic Mrth gives birth to its young in the water is due to the fact 



that the young seal grows but little, if any, from the 

 time it leaves the island in the fall until it appears off the coast of Cal- 

 ifornia, Oregon, and Washington in the spring. 



The longjournpy from the seal islands to the coast of California and 

 northward to the Straits of Fuca (the location of the origin of the theory 

 that seal pups are born at sea) is undoubtedly a hard one for the young- 

 seal, and during the long swim of over 3,000 miles he grows but little, 

 if any ; loses much of the baby fat that it started with, and arrives off the 

 coast of Washington and Vancouver Island instead of a round, fat, 

 rather clumsy looking animal with a black coat, a slim, graceful little 

 fellow of a dark-gray color, full of life and activity,and actually appear- 

 ing smaller and weighing less than when it left the seal islands. One 

 taken by the Ctorwm off Vancouver Island in April last, which appeared in 

 no wise different from hundreds of others seen by us, weighed, as taken 

 from the water, but 14 pounds. 



In view of this, no wonder that the pilots and even the Indians in 

 the vicinity of the Straits of Fuca mistook them for newly-born pups. 

 To these people, never having seen the newly-born pups, which are not 

 found on the coast of California, Washington, British Columbia, or 

 Alaska, except upon the Pribilof Islands, the change in color which 

 would at once indicate to a person familiar with the subject that they 

 were "last year's pups "would be unnoticed. In myjudgment this theory, 

 which was readily adopted by interested parties, had its origin in this 

 simple and somewhat natural mistake of a few ignorant people. I find in 

 general, as one of the results of my investigations, that 

 Pelagic seahng. more t]ian tw0 ^i r ^ f the seals taken are cows now 



having young or capable of bearing them at no distant day; that it is 

 impossible to discriminate as to age or sex of seals while in the water, 

 except in the case of young pups and old bulls; that even under the 

 most favorable conditions a large percentage is lost by sinking or wound- 

 ing, and that by reason of the tameness of the nursing cows, which 

 form the larger part of the seals seen, pelagic hunting in Bering Sea is 

 peculiarly destructive and unless stopped will wholly exterminate the 

 already greatly depleted herds. 

 I do not believe that it is possible to indicate any zonal limit in Ber- 

 ing Sea beyond which pelagic sealing could be carried 

 insufficient. 011 hy zone on, and at the same time preserve the seals from com- 

 plete annihilation. Further, I wish to renew a state- 

 ment contained in a former report made to the honorable Secretary of 

 the Treasury, that unless supplemented with protec- 

 Protectionin Pacific tion in the Pacific Ocean no amount of protection in 



Bering Sea will preserve the herds. 

 We arrived at Unalaska on the evening of August 31. Since leav- 

 ing San Francisco on March 9 the Gorwin has steamed 

 Distance traversed. 162 oo miles, and 8,713 miles since the date of my re- 

 porting for duty as part of the Bering Sea fleet. Of this distance 5,567 



