EFFECTS OF PELAGIC SEALING. 171 
the destructive effects of pelagic sealing. This artificial and added source of loss 
among the young pups is all the more impressive when taken in connection with the 
previous loss which they suffer from natural causes. 
THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF PELAGIC SEALING. 
We are now ready to consider finally the full effects of pelagic sealing on the fur- 
seal herd. It is apparent that a large proportion of the fur seals taken at sea are 
females; that every female above the age of 2 years is pregnant, and that when taken 
in Bering Sea she has a pup dependent upon her whose death results from her own. 
Using an average of all the data available, the proportion of females in the 
pelagic catch is about 80 per cent, or, to be on the safe side, and for the sake of ease 
in computation, we may consider it to be 75 per cent. 
THE TOTAL EFFECT OF PELAGIC SEALING. 
In the earlier discussion of the pelagic catch we found that a grand total of 
988,047, or approximately 1,000,000 seals, had been taken at sea since 1868 from all 
the herds of the North Pacific. With this data at hand we may make the following 
tabulation of the losses thus suffered by the fur-seal herds of the Pribilof and 
Commander islands: 
Loss in all waters through pelagic sealing, 1868-1897. 
Animals actually secured (in round numbers)....-----..---------+ seeeee ce eeee 1, 000, 000 
Animals shot, but lost (undetermined). 
Unborn pups destroyed with females (75 per cent of above)...... Mestiecopeade 750, 000 
Nursing pups starved (proportion of females killed in Bering Sea).-.......---- 180, 000 
Motal saacte nse sacs steaieeecce Wola loca ieee eee eee sake cee 1, 930, 000 
Though the second item in the above enumeration is not and can not be 
determined, it is nevertheless an important one and must be borne constantly in mind. 
During this period it is significant to note, as bearing upon the proportion of the sexes 
at sea, that approximately 3,000,000 males were killed on land during the equivalent 
period. , 
THE EFFECT SINCE 1883. 
But inasmuch as land killing was at its maximum during the first fifteen years of 
this period, and pelagic sealing only nominal, the effect of the latter will be more 
strikingly apparent if the comparison be based upon the results since 1883, when the 
pelagic catch in Bering Sea began. This computation for the Pribilof herd alone 
would be as follows: 
Loss to the Pribilof herd through pelagic sealing since 1883. 
Animals actually secured ........-.- -22- 20 eee eee eee ee eee cee eee cee eee 536, 000 
Animals shot, but lost (undetermined). 
Unborn pups destroyed with females (75 per cent of above)....-...--..-------- 402, 000 
Nursing pups starved. ........---- -e2e eens cece ee teens cee cee eee eee ee eee 180, 000 
T otal Sites ae ecto nd an ebite ses Shoe iecdeeeenee ede ae cohen 1, 118, 000 
Total land killing covering the same period. .....-..-----..--------2-0-- 842, 000 
