220 TESTIMONY 



Subscribed mid sworn to before me tliis lotli day of Ai>nl, 1.S02. 



Joseph Mxtrkay, 

 United iStates Treasury Agent. 



Deposition of F. F. Feeny, owner and master of liunting vessel, residing 

 on Kadiah Island. 



PELAGIC SEALING. 



r. F. Feeny, a resident of Long Island, St. Panl Harbor, Kadiak, 



ExKiience Alaska, being duly sworn, saith: I Lave resided in 



xptiRiice. Alaska over twenty years. I am owner and captain of 



a liuntiug and trading schooner. I bave been along tlie coast from 



Unimak Pass to Sitka, I liave never bunted fur-seal regularly, but 

 One-fifth lost. li a vc killed them when I came across them. Of seals 



Eighty per cent of killed, about four out of five are saved. Of those taken, 



m^ilThflV'' m- probably four out of five are females. Most all of the 



milking. ^ '" females taken are with young, or mothers. 



There is no way that 1 know of to distinguish the sex of a seal when 

 indiscrin.inatekiii. ^^ J^ iu the watcr. No attempt is made to discrimi- 



ing. nate the sex so as to kill only males. Ihe seals have 



Decrease. most dccldedly decreased iu number, caused by the 



No births at .sea or contiuual huutiug aud killing in the open sea. I have 



**° *^ ^' never seen nor heard of a seal born at sea nor on kelp. 



-,?"."i^f:i<l8 only on I do uot kuow of any rookery other than those of the 



rribilof Islands. i • i i • -r> • oi x • • -j? xi i 



seal islands in Bering Sea. In my opinion, if the seals 

 safy"^'^''*'"" "^'*'^" ^'^'^ ^^^ harassed aud hunted at sea they will increase, 



and to preserve them from extermination pelagic hunt- 

 ing must be stopped. 



F. F Feeny. 



Subscribed aud sworn to before me this 13th day of April, 1892. 



Joseph Murray, 

 United States Treasury Agent. 



Bcposition of William Foster, seal hunter, residing on Kadial- Island. 



PELAGIC SEALING. 



William Foster, a resident of St. Paul, Kadiak, Alaska, being duly 



sworn, deposed aud said : I am a hunter. Have been 



Exporien(^e. in Alaska eighteen years. Have been from Icy Bay 



to Unalaska. I have never hunted fur-seal until last 



^\ aste of hie. year. From my own experience, and what I have been 



Appear off Cooio told by otlicr liuntcrs, about ouehalf of tlic scals killed 



off ung^jnne^Lst!'°'^ ^1"^. The scals appear oft Cook's Inlet about May 1st. 



They appear oft" Unga about the 1st of June. 



A seal if shot dead will sink almost immediately. In my opinion. 



Decrease scals aud all otlier fur-bearing animals are decreasing 



and the cause is pelagic hunting. I do not know of 



rrn^uof'isLmK^ °" 'ii'y rookery outside of the seal islands of the Bering 



Sea, nor have I heard of any other. I have never seen 



None born on kelp, ^^^pg j^q^u ou kclp bcds, aud I am certain they can not 



