538 TESTIMONY. 



grounds before and after tlie delivery of tlieir young on those islands. 



Deixjnent is of the opinion that in addition to the seals 



Waste of life. actually caught a very large number are killed and not 



caught; and he bases this opinion upon the declaration to him of large 



numbers of persons engaged in pelagic sealing. He is not able to 



state accurately what that proportion is, but considers that two-fifths 



would be a very conservative estimate: that is, of the 

 Forty per cent lost, ^^^^j number killed three-fifths are secured and two- 

 fifths lost. The method of sealing by the poaching vessels, that is, of 

 shooting the seal from boats and catching them in the open water and 



then salting them down on the vessels, aftords another 

 fo^NOTthvest^sMnr^ explanation of the difference in the prices obtained for 

 ^ ■ the skins of the Northwest and the other catches. 



That is, nearly all of the skins of the Northwest catch are in the first 

 place marked with bullet or buckshot holes, and, in the second place, 

 the curing being done on the vessels, where there are no projier facili- 

 ties for such curing, the skins are inferior to those cured on the islands, 

 where such facilities exist. 



Fifth. Deponent, by reason of his experience in the business, his ob- 

 servation, conversations with those ])hysically engaged in catching and 

 curing skins, and the custody of herds on the islands, feels justified in 

 expressing the opinion that the numbers of the seal herds have, since 



the introduction of the open- sea sealing on a large 

 Decrease of seals. ^^.^^^^ suffered scHous diminution . The killin g of large 

 numbers of females heavy with young can not, in deponent's knowledge, 

 but have that effect; and the killing of iemales shortly after the delivery 

 of their young can not but have the effect of causing the death of their 

 offspring through lack of nourishment; and deponent is of the o])inion 



that if no restriction be imposed upon such indiscrimi- 

 ^^Protection neces- jj^^^ killing as has bccu goiug on in Bering Sea and 

 ^'*'^"^' the North Pacific since the year 18S5 by the poachers, 



the sealing industries of the North Pacific will follow the conrse of 

 those industries that formerly existed in the southern seas; and that 

 there is only a measurable time, say at the outside five years, when, if 

 the x)resent condition of things continues, the seals of Bering Sea will 

 be as extinct as the seals of south sea islands. 

 Deponent says that the most complete protection to the herds would be 

 Absolute roiiibi ^^^ absolutc prohibition of open-sea hunting; but that 

 ti(m the" bcst^protec- it may bc Sufficient protection for the herds in the 

 ti™- North Pacific if a close season can be arranged for all 



the seal north of the fiftieth parallel, north latitude, and 

 zonimly suffic^'^^ '"' wcst of the ouc hundred and fiftieth degree of west 



longitude from the 1st day of May to the 1st day of 

 November. Deponent regards it as important that the seal lierfl should 

 be protected as above indicated in the North Pacific, as otherwise they 

 will be exterminated, even if sealing be prohibited in the Bering 

 Sea. 

 Sixth. Deponent further says that the number of persons who are 

 , . engaged in the handling, dressing, and dyeing of seal 



Persons ensaged in , P ='. ^ j. r, -j. • ■ ^ j. T\ /./..i x' i 



the industry in Great sknis lu Great Britain IS about 2,001), many of whom 

 st'a'tes°^°'^*''*'^'^'*'''^ are expert workmen and receive high wages; and the 

 number in the United States is about 300. The num- 

 ber of persons engaged upon the poaching vessels is about 10 to each 

 vessel, and a considerable number of the persons engaged upon the 

 Canadian sealers are American citizens. 



