115 



I also have numerous fact sheets and other statements in support 

 of our position. 



Mr. Dlngell. Very well. If you will deliver them to the staff, the 

 Chair will direct the staff to review those for purposes of possible 

 insertion into the record. 



(The documents referred to are in the conmiittee files. A few rep- 

 resentative items follow :) 



Factshbjet on the Peibilof Seal "BLabvest" 



1. The Commerce Department claims that the size of the Pribilof seal herd 

 has increased from 200,000 in 1911 to about 1.3 million today. It is aUeged that 

 this is the herd's optimum size and that a much larger herd would result in 

 overpopulation and starvation. 



In fact, the natural size of the herd is over 5 million, according to an oflicial 

 account in the Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 24, pp. 480-85, written by 

 Seton Thompson, Chief, Division of Alaska Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service. In 1948, this herd numbered about 4 million. Thus, the 1.3 million 

 figure, even if accurate, represents a depletion of abouit 75%. There are also 

 strong indications that the 1.3 million figure is grossly inflated, particularly 

 since it includes hundreds of thousands of baby seals, 85% of which die before 

 they reach 3 years of age. The herd is now in such serious trouble that this year 

 the quota was vastly reduced from 60,000 seals in previous years to about 

 42,000. Still, only 32,000 seals were available for "harvesting". 25% below the 

 quota's allowance. There seems little doubt that, with the Commerce Depart- 

 ment's present management policies, the herd is headed for extinction. 



2. Commerce claims that only "surplus" bachelor seals are killed and that 

 females and pups are "not molested". This is constantly stressed in the Depart- 

 ment's press and information releases. 



Actually, in recent years, close to a quarter of a million females were har- 

 vested, almost every one of which was either pregnant or nursing a pup. When 

 a nursing female is killed, its baby starves to death. Thus, 250,000 babies have 

 also been indirectly killed. This is why the herd is presently in such a serious 

 state of depletion. As late as 1968, some 13,000 female seals were killed, over 

 11.000 of which were known to be nursing mothers. (See attached documenta- 

 tion from U.S. Dei>artment of Interior for 1968) . 



3. Commerce claims that the Harris-Pryor Ocean Mammal Protection Act 

 will mean the extinction of the Alaskan fur seal because the 4-nation treaty 

 banning pelagic sealing will be abrogated by the U.S. 



Just the opposite is true. The Harris-Pryor Bill maintains the current treaty 

 while giving the State Department the mandate to bring all other nations into 

 a more extensive treaty which would protect not only the fur seal but all 

 otlier ocean mammals as well. At the same time, the Bill gives special rec- 

 ognition to our obligations under the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention and 

 provides for Canada and Japan to continue to receive their 15% each of the 

 annual quota, or a commensurate financial compensation. The only change is 

 that the 70% "taken" for the U.S. market would not be killed. This can be 

 done while maintaining the treaty intact until 1976, after which time it is 

 scheduled to expire under the original terms of the agreement. 



Annual Report of Sealing Operations, 1968, Pribilof Islands, Alaska 



prepared by staff of marine mammal resources program, december 31, 1968 



HARVEST OF FEMALE SEALS AND PRODUCTION OF FEMALE SEALSKINS 



St. Paul St. George 

 Island Island Total 



Commercialized during regular season, June 2fr-Aug. 5 - 1,855 170 i?'2?n 



Commercialized during fall season, Aug. 6,-16. 8,469 2,m\ ^^"'" 



Total commercial female sealskins - ^^•lli ^'^on ^^'5*0 



Rejected because of poor quality. 220 zo ^w 



Total harvest of female seals... 10,544 2,791 13,335 



