220 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



Q. Would it result in lessening the number? — A. I think not. Here 

 is this letter which I referred to before. This answers this question. 

 If the revenue-cutters will protect the seal life, they have got to protect 

 the feeding grounds, and by protecting the feeding grounds and the 

 cows, you will have an increase in the seal, and if you do not you will 

 have a decrease : 



Indianapolis, March 3, 1887. 

 Hon. C. S. Fairchild, 



Secret ary of the Treasury : 



Dear Sir. The Governinent having decided, as I learn through public press, that 

 the seizure of vessels caught in the act of killing seals in the vicinity of seal islands, 

 at a distance of over 3 miles from shore, to be illegal, as one of the Government 

 officers to seal islands I feel it to be my duty to inlorui you that, if the Government 

 has been made to understand that by protecting seal islands to a distance ol 3 miles 

 from shore will be sufficient protection, or any real protection at all to seal life, will, 

 in my judgment, prove to be a great mistake. 



While the food of the seal (tish) may be in abundance throughout Bering Sea, 

 the main toediug grounds of the seal, during the summer stay upon the islands, and 

 to which the cows are constantly going and coming, are to be found from 40 to 70 

 miles south of St. George Island. It's but reasonable to suppose that fish would be a 

 little scarce in the near viciuity of the home of a million or more seals. 



The number of seals taken by marauders from seal islands or in the waters near by 

 are very few in comparison to the great numbers taken in the 50 or 60 miles south of 

 the islands. Old seal-huuters seldom bother the islands, and from the information 

 to be had, 95 per cent, of seals taken by seal-hunters in Bering Sea are taken at a 

 distance of from 40 to 75 miles south of St. George Island, and 90 per cent, of those 

 taken ai'e cows, the producers. 



The male seal— the bachelor, as they are called (the class taken by the Alaska Com- 

 mercial Company for their skins)— are lazy, and stick close to the islands during their 

 summer stay, and but for heavy rains or "a hot sun would seldom leave the island at 

 all, while the cows are constantly on the go to the feeding grounds, leaving their 

 youth to the watchful care of the old bull seal. While the female seals (cows) are 

 protected by law from being killed, within the past seventeen years the lessees have 

 taken about 1,700,0(0 male seals, and yet the increase of female seals upon the breed- 

 ing grounds is not very perceptible, showing, I think, that they have been taken as 

 I have indicated, by being more at the mercy of the hunters than the male seal. 



The number of seal-hunters hunting in Bering Sea (in the vicinity of seal islands) 

 in past years have been numerous enough, but few in comparison to the number that 

 ■will swarm around seal islands this coming season, if there is no law to prevent them. 

 For what has been done heretofore in a limited way and by stealth will now be done 

 openly and extensively, to the extent of extermination within ten, or at the furthest, 

 twenty years. 



Very respectfully, 



T. F. Ryan. 



Mr. Macdonald. Then, I understand your answer to be that if this 

 is done that this is the only way to keep off these marauders, from 

 whom there is dangei- of exterminating the seal? — A. That is all. It 

 is not to the interest of any merchant who has a contract, certainly, to 

 destroy them. 



The Chairman. If the Government makes this system of protection 

 rigid and complete throughout the Bering Sea and limits the killing to 

 the number stated in the lease and the law, would the herd increase or 

 diminish '? — A. I think it would increase. I wish you would add right 

 there that if you ever wish for the morals of the natives to be corrected, 

 that you should see that Government officers do their duty, and insist 

 on their rights on the island. 



Mr. Felton. What is the law on that subject at the present time?— 

 A. The laws of Oregon cover Alaska, and I think it also includes those 

 islands. 



The Chairman. There is an act of Congress extending the laws 

 throughout the Territory. 



