CHAPTER XVII. 
THE REMEDY FOR THE DECLINE OF THE HERD. 
We have thus covered the first three divisions of our subject. We have found 
the seal herd diminished to between one-fifth and one-sixth of its original size and 
still declining. The cause of this decline is simply and solely the slaughter of females 
at sea. The imminence of the danger thus threatened to the herd may be judged by 
the extent of the loss which has already been inflicted and by the fact that at che 
present time the berd is commercially ruined both on land and at sea. The regulations 
provided for the protection and preservation of the herd are utterly ineffective. 
REVISION OF THE REGULATIONS NOT ADEQUATE. 
The fourth division of our inquiry must therefore be short. It follows, of course, 
that some radical change is necessary. This can not be brought about by alterations 
in the present regulations or the substitution of new ones. It is not a question of the 
regulation of pelagic sealing, but of its abolition and the cessation of all traffic in the 
skins of females. The nature of the problem is such that the killing of seals at 
sea in any form and under any restrictions that can be made effective is wholly 
incompatible with the preservation and restoration of the herd. 
PELAGIC SEALING CAN NOT EXIST WITHOUT THE KILLING OF FEMALES. 
_ Itis impossible to distinguish the sex of the animals at sea and so exempt the 
females. It is immaterial whether the animal is shot or speared, so long as itis killed. 
It makes no difference whether the female is killed when heavy with young on the 
migrations or whether she is left to bring forth her young and is then killed, leaving 
the young to starve. The herd could be commercially ruined in the single month of 
August on its feeding grounds in Bering Sea, even if all other sealing were prohibited. 
It Bering Sea were fully closed, the concentration of the operations of the fleet off 
the Northwest Coast would be sufficient to maintain the continued, though perhaps 
slower, decline of the herd. So long as pelagic sealing exists in any form or at any 
time or place, females will be killed, and their continued slaughter means the ultimate 
destruction of the herd, biologically as well as commercially. 
THE TOTAL PROHIBITION OF PELAGIC SEALING THE ONLY REMEDY. 
In a word, there is no remedy for the present decline of the herd, nor hope for its 
restoration and preservation, except in the absolute and permanent prohibition of 
.. pelagic sealing. 
pelag. g is 
