ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



Captured offRedondo Beach, Cal.. ism. Weight lsoo pound 



The bounty was offered at the instigation of 

 fishermen, market men and cannery men, on the 

 claim that sea lions were enormously destruc- 

 tive to food fishes. 



The work of the commission, or certain mem- 

 bers of it, extended over several seasons. It in- 

 cluded not merely inquiries relative to the 

 bounty, but investigations covering the breeding 

 places, numbers, food habits and utility of sea 

 lions, together with hearings of complaints 

 based upon their alleged destructiveness. 



The commission, headed by Dr. Charles F. 

 Newcombe of Victoria, performed its arduous 

 field work with faithfulness. Notwithstanding 

 the enormous local importance of the industries 

 inimical to the existence of herds of sea lions. 

 the conclusions and recommendations of the re- 

 port are free from considerations of expediency. 



The report covers the years 1915-16 and is 

 an important contribution to the ever-recurring 

 subject of seals and sea lions in their relation 

 to the commercial fisheries. 



These carnivorous animals abound along the 

 coasts of many countries and have always been 

 condemned by those who live by exploiting the 

 fisheries. It is a remarkable fact that their food 

 habits under natural conditions have not vet 

 been studied to the extent necessary to the de- 

 termination of their economic status. It is not 

 many years since a vigorous attack against sea 

 lions was made by fishing interests on the Pa- 

 cific Coast of the United States. Many of them 

 were killed before the extensive slaughter pro- 



posed by fishermen was 

 checked. The rather limit- 

 ed investigations which were 

 made at the time by federal 

 agents served to show that 

 most of the charges made by 

 fishermen could not be 

 proved. But we are not yet 

 • in possession of such facts 

 regarding the food habits of 

 the sea lion, as have been 

 brought out in the case of 

 the fur seal, which has been 

 studied intensively. Until 

 this has been done, the sea 

 lion question cannot be de- 

 termined on a basis of fact. 

 The inquiries made in 

 British Columbia have 

 thrown light on the subject, 

 but what constitutes the 

 principal food of the sea 

 lion remains to be discov- 

 ered. What the animal may 

 eat when it wanders into the 

 vicinity of extensive fishing operations, or what 

 damage to fishing apparatus might be attributed 

 to it. cannot safely be made the excuse for 

 wholesale extermination. 



It has been definitely ascertained that the 

 principal food of the fur seal is not fish. The 

 same may be true with regard to the sea lion, 

 but it will be more difficult to determine. The 

 stomachs of large numbers of fur seals killed in 

 the open ocean while feeding, were examined on 

 the decks of sealing vessels and the results were 

 conclusive. In the case of sea lions, examina- 

 tions have been made of animals shot at their 

 breeding places, where advanced digestion left 

 few traces of food. 



From the reports at hand from British Co- 

 lumbia, it appears that the bounty of $2 was 

 paid on i, 074 sea lions. It is stated that not 

 more than 50 per cent, of those killed could be 

 secured, and "at a conservative estimate there 

 must have been 8.000 killed," while the numbers 

 killed elsewhere "would add materially to this 

 number." The number of sea lions in that re- 

 gion was estimated in 1913 by Dr. Newcombe, 

 Chairman of the Commission, at 11,000. In the 

 report for 1916, it is stated, "while in round 

 numbers 10,000 fairly well represents those 

 seen on the rocks at the rookeries, there is a 

 large number besides these, possibly even as 

 great a number or greater, scattered over a wide 

 area along the whole coast." The estimate of 

 10.000 does not include the 8.000 believed to 

 have been killed previously. 



