RELATING TO SEIZURES IN BERING SEA. 189 



would lose from 80 to 85 per ceut. I examined the skins taken from seal- 

 ing vessels seized in 1887 and 1889, over 12,000 skins, and 

 of these at least two-thirds or three-fourths were the m^el taken.^"''"* *'^' 

 skins of females. Of the females taken in the Pacific 

 Ocean, and early in the season in Bering Sea, nearly all are heavy with 

 young, and the death of the female necessarily causes the death of the 

 unborn j)up seal ; in fact, I have seen on nearly every vessel seized the 

 pelts of unborn pups, which had been taken from their mothers. Of 

 the females taken in Bering Sea nearly all are in milk, and I have seen 

 the milk come from the carcasses of dead females lying on the decks of 

 sealing vessels which were more than 100 miles from the Pribilof 

 Islands. From this fact, and from the further fact that I have seen 

 seals in the water over 150 miles from the islands 

 during the summer, I am convinced that the female, T-emaies feed i so 



,,, *^ ..,.,,, ' , , , . ' miles from islands. 



alter giving birth to her young on the rookeries, goes 

 at least 150 miles, in many cases, from the islands in search of food. It 

 is imi)ossible to distinguish a male from a female seal 

 in the water, except in the case of a very old bull, ^^f'^ ™'|g|.'"'^"'*'''*'*' 

 when his size distinguishes him. Therefore oi^en-sea 

 sealing is entirely indiscriminate as to sex or age. I . ludiscrimiuato kin- 

 consider it necessary for the preservation of the seal ^"^' 

 herd which resorts to the Pribilof Islands, and for the prevention of 

 their early extermination, that pelagic sealing should 

 cease in all waters which they ti'equent. tion necessary!'^'''^'^^ 



I do not know and I never heard of any other place along the Ameri- 

 can coast or islands where the fur-seals haul up, and it j^ . 

 is my opinion that the fur-seal pup of the Alaskan landT "" ^ "" ^^' 

 herd is born nowhere else but on the Pribilof Islands. 

 It is my belief that a pup born in the water would j J,f^|^ "" •"■ ™ «" '^- 

 drown, for I am convinced from statements made me 

 by the natives and those thoroughly familiar with seal habits that a 

 pup for the first weeks of its life is unable to swim. It 

 is my opinion that should pelagic seahng be prohibited g Ji^''°^ ^'"^'■'' *"'""'** 

 in a zone 30, 40, or 50 miles about the Pribilof Islands 

 it would be utterly useless as a protection to seal life, because female 



because fogs are so prevalent about those islands that useless. 



it would be imxiossible to enforce any such prohibition. 



L. G. Shbpard, 

 Captain U. 8. Revenue Marine, 

 Chief of Division, Revenue Marine. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me, a notary pubhc in and for the 

 District of Columbia, U. S. A., this 27th day of April, 1892. 

 [l. s.] Geo. Y. Coffin, 



Notary Fiiblic. 



