46 TESTIMOTY 



Paul, and from Zapadnie, on St. George, upon the backs of donkeys; 

 tliat there were no destructive agencies at work upon the island that 

 would not have left the rookeries in better condition in 1800 than they 

 were in 1870; that until the effects of the true agent of destruction 

 began to be manifest there was an excess of male life on the islands 

 sufficient to permit of an annual catch of 100,000 seals for an indefinite 

 period without jeopardizing the rookeries; that if it be remembered 

 that the seals taken in the water by hunters are chiefly females, that 

 their young die with them and that all of those killed are not secured, 

 and if then an examination be made of the pelagic skins actually sold 

 during the past twenty years the real source of the depletion of the 



rookeries will be found; that in my judgment such de- 



cUi''<TX!'seaUn"^^'^ ^^ plctiou was causcd by pelagic sealing, and that it grew 



pc agic sea ing. greater from year to year as the number of so-called 



poaching schooners increased; and that its eflects began to manifest 



themselves about 1885 or 188G; that the depletion on both hauling 



and breeding grounds is accounted for by the fact that 

 cenffeSf ''thf jua^ t^® catch of Said pehxgic sealers consists of at least 85 

 j'ority'^^pregnaut or per ccut COWS; that Said cows when taken in the North 

 nursing. Pacific are in the majority of cases with pups, and in 



Bering Sea are so-called milking females; tliat whenever a milking 

 cow is killed, her pup on the rookeries dies of starvation. In sui)- 



])ort of this fact last stated, the number of dead pups 

 Dead pups. duriiig the last four ycars I was upon the islands in- 



creased annually; that the effects of the comparatively 

 ^'^''^'''- few raids upon the rookeries themselves, while injuri- 



ous, bear but a small ratio to the enormous damage done by the pelagic 

 hunting. 

 Tluxt those in charge of said islands did not when said decrease on 



said rookeries commenced know conclusively tbe cause 

 ted^.TroTrookerieT' thcrcof ; that my opinion then was that it was caused 



by pelagic sealing, but had been informed and believed 

 that the United States Government intended to seize all sucli poaching 

 vessels; that relying upon such information I authorized the taking of 

 seals as before; that such protection of seal life was not fully carried out 

 in Bering Sea and the North Pacific by reason of England's interference, 

 and that the rookeries were thus depleted. 

 I am fully convinced from my knowledge of seal matters that if this 



indiscriminate and reckless destruction of the Pribilof 

 icYe^aUngwmdr^^^ scal herd continues as it has done in the past six years 

 the Alaska herd. jjj Bering Sca and the North Pacific, the seals will be 

 practically exterminated in a very few years, even if the United States 

 Government should not allow any seals to be taken on the Pribilof 

 Islands, for the destruction of females in the water has reached a num- 

 ber that can not be met by the annual increase. 



In my judgment the seals should be protected in Bering Sea and the 



North Pacific, and that pelagic sealing should be en- 

 ^Protectionnecea- tircly prohibited in the said waters. A zone of 30 

 ^*^' miles about the seal islands within which seal hunt- 



ing would be prohibited would be valueless in preserving seal life; 



first, because Bering Sea during the time the seals are 

 vafulfe^I''^ ^° ^'^''^ tli^re is almost constantly enveloped in fogs and mist, 



under cover of which marauding vessels could run in 

 very near to the islands without being observed, if allowed to come as 

 near as 30 miles thereto; second, because for over 30 miles from said 

 islands great quantities of seals are found coming from and going to the 



