200 



THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



The Asiatic catch of 1895, or, what is equivalent, the catch from the Commander 

 Islands herd, clearly showed how excessively that herd had suffered, for it fell from 

 over 93,000 in 1894 to less than 43,000. In other words, the schooners secured more than 

 50,000 less than the year previously. The figures are derived from the official statistics 

 of the United States Treasury Department (Stat. Fur-Seal Catch, 1896, p. 34), and 

 from the Report of the Canadian Department of Fisheries, an abstract from which is 

 appended below. To the figures contained in these documents must be added the 

 skins secured by Japanese sealers and sealers domiciled in Japan. From information 

 gathered by myself in Japan these schooners secured at least 5,771 skins, viz, 4,684 

 off the coast of Japan and 1,087 on the feeding grounds of the Commander Islands 

 seals. The detailed list of these catches is published later on in this volume in my 

 Eeport on the Fur-Seal Industry of Japan (pp. 291-303). 



The pelagic Asiatic catch of 1895 consequently fell off' about 54 per cent. 



That of 1896 shows a still further decrease. According to official sources, the 

 Commander Islands herd was preyed upon by 36 Canadian and United States schooners, 

 which took 22,613 skins off' the Japan coast and 1,578 off the Commander Islands 

 feediu g grounds. (Stat. Tab. Fur-Seal Catch, 1896, p. 34.) To these must be added 4,967 

 skins taken by schooners owned in Japan, a total of a little over 29,000 skins, or more 

 than 4,000 skins less than in 1892, when the pelagic sealing first started in earnest on 

 the Asiatic side. The detailed figures of the catch will be found in the following tables, 

 the first of which is derived from the statistical tables quoted above (pp. 6, 7) : 



Report of vessels of United States sealing fleet in Asiatic waters, season 1896. 



It will be noted that only one vessel domiciled in the United States hunted on the 

 Commander Islands feeding grounds. Of the 272 skins secured there 19 were males 

 and 253 females. The skins taken in Japanese waters were 1,820 males, 2,788 females, 

 and 37 the sex of which was not ascertained. 



