RELATING TO PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 93 



Beiwsition of William M. Williams, Treasury agent iti charge of the 

 Fribilof Islands. 



MANAGEMENT. PELAGIC SEALING. 



William H. Williams, being duly sworn, deposes and says : I reside at 

 Wellington, Ohio, and am 55 years of age ; that I am the ^^ erience 

 United States Treasury Agent in charge of the Seal ^penence. 

 Islands in Bering Sea; that in pursuance of Department instructions to 

 me of May 27, 1891, I made a careful examination during the sealing 

 season of the habits, numbers, and conditions of the seals and seal rook- 

 eries with a view of reporting to the Department from observation and 

 such knowledge on the sul))ect as 1 might obtain whether or not in jny 

 opinion the seals are diminishing on the Pribilof Islands, and, if so, the 

 causes therefor; that as a result of such investigation I found, from the 

 statements made to me by the natives on said islands. Government 

 Agents, Employes of the lessees, some of whom had been on said islands 

 for many years, that a decrease in number of seals had 

 been gradually going on since 1885, and that in the sii^eisso. '*^'''^^'^^*°^ 

 last three years the decrease had been very rapid. 



A careful and frequent examination of the hauling grounds and 

 breeding rookeries by myself and assistant agents during the months 

 of June, July, and August showed that the seals had greatly dimin- 

 ished in number, and we found large vacant spaces on all the rook- 

 eries which in former years during tliese months had been covered by 

 thousands of seals ; that prior to 1888 the lessees had been able to take 

 100,000 skins from male seals, but I am clearly of the oniy one-third of 

 opinion that not more than one-third of that number g"t'^^g"Jif^'^i8y\^°"^'^ 

 of raerchantable skins could have been taken during 

 the year 1891. Furthermore, I made careful inquiry of the people on the 

 islands, both native and white, and of those who were or had been 

 employed as masters or mates on sealing vessels, and others interested 

 one way or another in the capture of fur seals for food or for profit, and 

 failed to find any of them Ijut who admitted that the number of seals 

 in the Bering Sea was much less now than a few years since, and nearly 

 all of them gave it as their opinion that the decrease 

 in number was due to pelagic hunting, or, as they more peiagirseaiing"*^ 

 frequently expressed it, the killing of females in the 

 water. It was freely admitted by the pelagic hunters with whom I 

 conversed that but a very small per cent of their catch was males, and 

 1 found their statements in this respect verified by the dealers who 

 bought or handled the skins and placed them on the market. They 

 are known to the trade as the "North West coast catch," and I am 

 credibly informed that a portion of the skin on the belly of the female 

 heavy with pup or giving suck to her young is worthless, and that this 

 is one of the chief causes why they are sold so much less than i^rime 

 skins in the London Market. They also further stated ^^i^p ^ogt profitable 

 that the two most profitable periods for them to catch period^ for pelagic 

 seal was in the sprin g of the year, when the females were ^^^ ^"^' 

 heavy with pup and frequently found asleep on the water, and in the 

 summer, after the mother seal had given birth to her young and gone 

 out into the sea to feed, at which time she was easily approached. 



The investigation further disclosed the fact that of the large num- 

 ber of seals killed by pelagic hunters only a por- y^^^t^otufe. 

 tion of them are secured, and while all admitted that 

 some were lost they differed very considerably as to the number. 



