152 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 
THE INTERRELATION OF PELAGIC AND LAND CATCHES. 
The relation of the pelagic catch to the land catch is here well illustrated. The 
catch in 1891 was small. Its effect on the bachelor herd was slight and together with 
the larger catch of 1892 accounts for the reduction from 36,000 to 31,000 in the land 
catch. Bearing in mind the fact that the really important effect of the pelagic catch 
of any year is only seen in the herd of killable seals after three years, we are prepared 
to find the first marked reduction in 1895, and are not disappointed. The quota of 
1895 is less than half the quota of 1891. Since 1894 the pelagic catch from the 
Commander herd has rapidly declined, showing how pelagic sealing has exhausted its 
own resources. Its catch of 1897 on the Asiatic side is about one-sixth the size of 
its catch for 1894. 
In the case of the Pribilof herd the result has not been so striking. As against 
61,838 seals taken in 1894 we have 24,321 taken in 1897. But the results of the 
modus vivendi, the closed zone and the closed season are seen in this herd. The 
Commander herd has had no modus vivendi or closed season, and the protected zone 
has been but one-half as great as that of the Pribilof herd. 
The example of the Commander herd strengthens the evidence in the case of 
the Pribilof. With the former, as with the latter, the decline of the herd and the 
expansion of pelagic sealing practically go together. If no other proof was available 
than what these figures adduce we must be forced to the conclusion that pelagic 
sealing has been the cause of the decline. 
