370 TESTIMONY 



Catcli on coast. 



Sealing operations were resumed on July 18 to tlie souths 'ard of tlie 

 Fox Islands, and on the 23d we enteied Bering Sea, 

 enterS'l.^'''''' '^''*'' ""^ where we remained fourteen days, at the end of that 

 time returning to Vancouver Island, which Avas reached 

 on the 28th of August. We had a good catch, having taken 1,400 

 skins, more than 1,000 of which we secured on the 

 coast. Of the latter more than 75 per cent were female 

 ce^ubmakl^o/wim^h P^-lts, and of thesc about GO per cent were taken from 

 CO per ceut preguant. pregnant COWS. lu Bering Sea, where we obtained 

 Half in Bering Sea about 400 skius, males and females in about equal 

 females, mosiiy nuis- uumbers werc taken. The females were mostly nurs- 

 '"^' ing cows, while the males were young ones, between 



the ages of 2 and 5 years. I examined the stomachs of the fur-seals 

 taken in Bering Sea during the month of July, 1887, 

 and found the greater number to contain Alaska mack- 

 erel. This goes to show clearly that at that season of the year this fish 

 constitutes an important item in the diet of the fur- 

 Nmsing cows 100 geal. Nursiug fur-seal cows were found in July as far 

 m es romisancs. ^^ ^^^ miies to the soutliward of the Pribilof Islands 

 in Bering Sea, feeding on mackerel as above. It is impossible to dis- 

 tinguish between males and females of the fur-seal species in the water 

 at sea, excepting large bulls, and no effort is made to do so. The object 

 is to get all the marketable skius possible, and the 

 kiorni'^''''™ '"''*'' killing is consequently indiscriminate. The pelts of 

 large bulls, whose fur is coarse and of little value, and 

 of yearlings of both sexes, whose skins are too small, not being strictly 

 "marketable" skins, they were not taken. 



I have never known of fur-seal pups being born on ijatches of floating 

 kelp, or in the Avater, at sea, or anywhere in fact, save on 

 poSfif ^"^^' ''''' I'egiilar rookeries, neither do I believe it possible for 

 them to be reared successfully under any other cir- 

 cumstances. During my travels in Alaskan waters, I have made ex- 

 tensive investigations concerning the existence of fur-seal rookeries, 

 especially about the region of Cooks Inlet and Prince 

 thrisifnds^ "°^^ °° William Sound, where rookeries have been reported to 

 exist, as well as those places where fnr-seals are an- 

 nually observed in the greatest numbers. I am, therefore, positive in 

 my belief that no such fur-seal rookeries, or other places where fur-seals 

 haul out on the land to breed, exist in Alaska M'ith the exception of 

 those on the seal islands of Bering Sea. In my opinion, fur-seal life 

 has not only enormously decreased in numbers since 

 1886, but it has become greatly scattered, and grown 

 wilder and more timid, forsaking many places where they were formerly 

 to be found at certain seasons of the year engaged in feedhig. This I 

 attribute to the large number of vessels engaged in killing fur-seals 

 indiscriminately at sea, and believe that in order to 

 saTy?^"^'*'™ '"'"^" preserve the species from actual and speedy extermi- 

 nation all pelagic hunting should be stopped absolutely, 

 and the waters of Bering Sea closed. 



James E. Lennan. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 18th day of April, 1892. 



Joseph Muekay, 

 United ii^tates Treasury Agent, 



