EFFECTS OF PELAGIC KILLING. 151 
assumed the years 1882-1885 as the approximate date, because in the latter year it 
Was necessary to greatly increase the number of drives and the number of hauling 
grounds driven from to get the regular quota. This will be apparent from an inspec- 
tion of the preceding table. The cause of this scarcity of killable seals must neces- 
sarily date back three years, or to 1882. Moreover, within this period occurred the 
extension of the operations of pelagic sealing into Bering Sea. Again, in the year 
1882, the pelagic catch was trebled in size and thereafter continued to increase, while 
from the steady retardation of the date at which the quota could be filled and the 
increased number of drives necessary, the bachelor herd as steadily declined. 
PELAGIC SEALING AS A CHECK FROM 1871-1880. 
During the long period from 1871 to 1880, we may infer that the pelagic catch 
had no influence on the herd except perhaps with other causes tu neutralize possible 
increase. With the rise of the catch to 15,000 in 1882, we may assume that the strain 
was too great and that the equilibrium was broken. The further increase to 24,000 
in 1885 intensified the decline, and when in 1887 the pelagic catch reached 46,000 it 
became serious. 
In estimating the influence of the pelagic catch in these early days it must 
always be borne in mind that the catch as recorded is only a part of the loss which 
the herd sustained through pelagic sealing. It will never be possible to estimate the 
loss, due to the killing of animals which were not recovered, but that it was great we 
have no reason to doubt, and it must not be left out of the account. 
IRREGULAR QUOTA SINCE 1890. 
Since the year 1890 the results of land killing can not be taken as an index of the 
condition of the herd from year to year. In the years 1891-1893 land killing was 
arbitrarily contracted under the modus vivendi. The quotas of 1894 and 1895 were 
influenced by the changed methods of driving practiced in these years, and by the 
heavy pelagic catches of 1890 and 1891 resulting in the starvation of pups in these 
years. The quotas of 1896 and 1897 have been in turn slightly influenced by the 
protection afforded by the modus vivendi, which reduced in a measure the pelagic 
catch of 1892 and 1893, thus saving pups from starvation. The results of the heavy 
pelagic catches of 1895 and 1896 have yet to show themselves in the coming quotas 
of 1898 and 1899. 
PELAGIC SEALING AND THE COMMANDER HERD. 
We may here, for the sake of illustration, compare similarly the land and sea 
catches from the Commander herd. Pelagic sealing began on this herd in 1891. As 
the fleet was a large one, its results have been more rapid and disastrous than in 
connection with the Pribilof herd. The following are the comparative figures: 
Pelagic catch of Commander herd, 1891-1897. 
Sea Land Sea Land 
[ Year. killing. | killing. Year. killing, | killing. | 
8,432 | 36,815 |] 1995............... 37,035 | 17,719 
26,752 | 31,244 |} 1896.............-. 24191 | 13,516 
66, 143 32, 786 DBOT. .ccinieeicierme nace 13, 801 11, 385 
79, 305 27, 287 
