249 



Mr. Potter. Well, let us take the Stat« of Alaska. Are you familiar 

 with that ? 



Mr. Pollock. Yes. 



Mr. Potter. Let us take those animals for which your Department 

 has responsibility, that is to say seals and whales. Is it your belief 

 that the Alaskan regulations for the taking of these mammals are 

 presently adequate? 



Mr. Pollock. So far as I know, the law is adequate. 



Of course, in the case of fur seals we have the international con- 

 vention, and the Fur Seal Act which control the fur seals and the 

 Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956. We are quite in control of the fur 

 seals. 



Mr. Potter. If they were not, I take it you would have no objection 

 to letting the Federal Government work out cooperative arrangements ? 



Mr. Pollock. We have no objection to working out cooperative 

 arrangements in any way. 



This is the proper way to do it rather than take away the right 

 from the State. 



Mr. Potter. The reason I asked the question is because Alaska does 

 not attempt to regulate porpoises or whales at all. As to porpoises, 

 there is no closed season or no limit and as beluga whales there is no 

 closed season and no limit. 



As far as seals are concerned from north of the Alaskan Peninsula 

 all the way up around the coast for hair seals there is no closed season 

 or a limit and as I understand it, reading from Alaska's regulations, 

 there is a bounty paid for the killing of hair seals. 



Mr. Pollock. There is a bounty on hair seals in certain portions of 

 the water off Alaska and this is in protection of the salmon industry. 



This is a matter of balancing these interests. 



Mr. Potter. These seals which are subject to bounty include the 

 ringed seal, the bearded seal, the harbor seal, and the ribbon seal, and 

 I understand the ribbon seal has been classified as a rare species by 

 Interior. 



Mr. Pollock. To my knowledge there is no bounty paid on the 

 ribbon seal. 



You see, you have to put this in its proper context. There are 34,000 

 miles of shoreline in Alaska and in some of those areas far up to the 

 north there is no bounty paid on this. There are no salmon populations 

 that go there. 



Now, there are other places where there are important salmon 

 populations and where seals do take a lot of salmon, and the bounty is 

 placed under those conditions, and they are a very common seal, the 

 hair seals. 



Mr. Potter. Hair seals include ribbon seals. 



Mr. Pollock. They include everything, but I am saying as a prac- 

 tical matter they are not taking scarce species. 



Mr. Potter. At this point I would ask the chairman for permission 

 to include in the record such portions of the Alaska game regulations 

 as are appropriate and also the page from the Interior Red Book in- 

 dicating the status of the ribbon seal as rare. 



Mr. DiNGELL. Without objection, it is so ordered. 



(The information follows :) 



