368 



Mr. Hessel. There are practically no harp seals used in the United 

 States. The main quantity of the sealskms in the United States used 

 for manufacturinfj are the fur seals which refers to the Alaska fur 



cpojlc 



Mr. Pelly. Would any legislation to ban the import of the harp 

 seal do violence to your business? 



Mr. Hessel. It would have practically no effect on the fur nidustry 

 in the United States. 



Mr. DiNGELL. Mr. Rogers? ^ i- i x. ^i 



Mr. Rogers. Mr. Chairman, I have no questions. I think that the 

 information given us has be^n helpful and I am sure the committee 

 will consider it. 



Mr. DiNGELL. Very much so. 



Mr. Kyros? 



Mr. Kyros. Tliank you, Mr. Chairman. 



To what extent are the finished products, that is, the coats and 

 suede leather from baby seals killed in Canada, imported and sold 

 in the U.S. market ? 



Mr. Hessel. I repeat and give the same answer. Baby seals are not 

 used in the Ignited States whatsoever. 



Mr. Kyros. I did not ask you that. 



I asked you: what products from seals killed by the Canadians 

 are sold in the United States. Sold, for example, as fur trim, suede, 

 leather, and so forth. 



Mr. Hessel. Are baby seal skins sold here ? No. I do not think that 

 anybody can make a statement of 100 percent, but I can assure you 

 that there is no use of baby seals whatsoever in the fur manufactur- 

 ing industry in the United States. 



Mr. Kyros. There are no finished products coming in? 



Mr. Hessel. No. There are no imports of the finished products. 



(The following was submitted for the record.) 



James R. Sharp. 

 Washington, D.C., September 21, 1971. 

 Frank Potter, Esq., 



Counsel. Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation. 

 U.S. House of Representatives, 

 Washington, B.C. 



Dear Frank: You will recall there were some questions asked about the 

 quantity of baby Canadian seal skins used by the U.S. fur industry. 



I have made further inquiries since the testimony of the fur industry be- 

 fore the Committee on the 17th of September, and again, I am assured that no 

 baby seals (white skins) are bought by the U.S. industry. In fact, the U.S. in- 

 dustry buys only a very small percentage of the total Canadian exports of 

 seal skins.' In 1970 there were 7,250 skins out of a total Canadian export of 

 193,701 skins exported to the United States. Canadian exports for that year 

 were as follows : 



1910 Exports frotn Canada of Raw Fur Seals 



United States 7, 250 



Puerto Rico 1^290 



Sweden 1- 012 



United Kingdom 66, 890 



Austria 102 



West Germany 14,835 



Belgium 34. 639 



France 2, 047 



Norway 65, 646 



Total 193, 701 



