348 TESTIMONY 



Deposition of William Short, sealer (hoat-puller), 

 pelagic sealing. 



Province of British Columbia, 



City of Victoria, ss : 



William Short, being duly sworn, dejioses and says : I am 2G years old 



and reside at Victoria, British Columbia and am by 



Experience. occupatiou a painter. On January 14, 1890, 1 sailed as 



MaggieMac, 1890. ^ boat-puller from Victoria, British Columbia, on the 



British sealing schooner Maggie Mac, Dodd, master. She 



carried six sealing boats that were manned bythreewhite men each, who 



used breechloading shotguns and rifles. We began sealing off Cape 



^^^^ Mendocino and sealed south as far as FaraUone Islands, 



ea ing o coas . ^hcnce uorthtoward the Bering Sea. We captured 1,120 



seals on the coast before entering the sea. On the 12th of July we 



entered the sea through Unimak Pass. Lowered the 



Entered Bering bea. ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ capturcd about 2,093 scals in 



those waters, and then returned to Victoria on the 19th of September. 

 In July, 1891, I sailed out of the port of Victoria, British Columbia, 

 as a hunter on the British sealing schooner Otto, O'Eeily, 

 master. She carried one stern boat, manned with three 

 white men. We proceeded up the coast for the purpose of procuring our 

 Indian crew of sealers. Failing in this we returned to Victoria on the 

 1st of August. While cruising along the coast our 

 mStaken^^""^"* *''' pri"cipal catch was female seals with pup, the balance 

 being principallyyearlings,abouthalf male and female. 

 In some instances we ran upon schools of seal and shot five or six, all 

 Waste of life of which would be lost; in other instances we would 



secure about one-half of those wounded. One half of 

 all seals shot on the coast are lost. 

 I do not know of any place on the coast where the seals haul out upon 

 the land to breed; nor do I know of any instances where 

 co?sl"°* ^^""^ "^ "° tlie seals give birth to their young on the kelp. Fully 

 f ^Tv^'t ?.^®^°'^"* 90 per cent of all seals secured by us in the Bering Sea 

 were cows, in milk. We seldom captured a bull, one 

 of which we shot over twelve times, and afterwards it escaped. There 

 are not so many seals lost in the Bering Sea as there are on the coast. 

 We caught seals all the way from 50 to 250 miles from the rookeries, on 

 the Pri bilof Islands. We caught female seals, in milk, near the 72 Pass, 

 in the Bering Sea. The 72 Pass is about 230 miles from 

 the Pribilof Islands. I noticed a decrease in the num- 

 ber of seals off Cape Flattery when there in 1891, as compared with 

 the other season. In my opinion, it is a shame to kill the female seal 

 before she has given birth to her young. Pelagic seal- 

 8tTuctA?e ^^^^'^^ '*''" i°S "^ *1^^ North Pacific Ocean before the middle of 

 June is very destructive and wasteful and should be 

 _^ Indiscriminate km- stoppcd ,* scal huntcTS shoot all seals that they can, 

 "'"■ because they are paid so much a skin, whether large 



.-ibiefn water*^"^'"^^" ^^ Small, male or female. It is impossible to distin- 

 guish the sex of the seal in the water, except the old 

 Protection unneces- oucs. I thiuk pclagic Sealing in the sea should be pro- 

 *'^'^' hibited until such a time as the pup may have grown 



to the age at which it, may be able to Uve without nurse from its mother. 



W. Short. 



