66 FUR SEALS OF ALASKA, 
The official record showing the loss of life in the seal islands of Alaska, from 1872 down to 
1908, inclusive—Continued. 
Number of 
fur seals 
Year. Authority. (males, fe- 
males, and 
young). 
1902 | Report Secretary of the Treasury, p. 30, Dec. 3, 1902: No mention or hint of 
any decrease in the herd in this report; but a set of erroneous figures is 
given for the pelagic catch of the year—only one-third of this catch is 
announced. Upon this false return of that catch is based here an allega- 
tion that the pelagic hunter is retiring from business, and that this retire- 
ment puts ‘‘the herd in a more stable condition,’ and that ‘it is not 
decreasing now as rapidly as heretofore.’’ Also no reference is made of the 
new “Japanese” sealing fleet which joined the Canadian fleet this season, 
and has been busy all around the islands inside of the ‘‘60-mile zone.’ No 
reference is made to this new power for destruction, although the Depart- 
ment on Sept. 25, 1902, received an official report declaring that ‘‘about 16” 
of these vessels were so engaged during the season of 1902. Therefore, 
since the same forces for destruction which have been at work on the herd 
since 1896 have again this season been all actively employed, with the addi- 
tion of the ‘‘16 Japanese’’ vessels, it is only reasonable tor us to declare a 
reduction of at least 12 per cent from the number allowed for 1901, and this 
gives us at the close of the season of 1902 not to exceed......._.-.....------ 180, 000 
Also in this report of the Treasury Department for 1902 is omitted the state- 
ment of the special agent in charge of the islands in the report for this year, 
received at the Department Aug. 25, 1902, that ‘‘a careful count of harems 
made this year shows a falling off of 25 per cent of breeding bulls.” The 
reason why this important fact is omitted is evident to any intelligent reader; 
it would utterly deny the Secretary’s assertion that ‘the herd isin a more 
stable condition.” It is therefore suppressed. 
‘1903 | The Government agent declares to his chief in the Department of Commerce 
and Labor, Dec. 17, 1903, that at the close of the season of 1903, Aug. 1, the 
whole number of fur seals alive then on the Pribilof Islands was not to 
OR COC ois cia rans cisterna caseelerstens tera pera dit idee otal slaved Oe Aci vaisd Bias ned are eM aes wercizes 150, 000 
RECAPITULATION. 
The foregoing official record of the rate and ratio of progress of the decline of the 
fur-seal herd of Alaska shows, concisely, that there were in— 
Pribilof fur seals, 
3, 2, and. 
Also, a census of the fur-seal cows, alone, has been officially recorded since 1896, as 
follows: On the Pribilof Islands— 
In 1896 there were 157,405 fur-seal cows. (Jordan’s Report, 1896. 
In 1897 there were 134,582 fur-seal cows. (Jordan’s Report, 1897. 
In 1900 there'were 100,000 fur-seal cows. (United States Fish Commissioner’s 
Report, 1900.) 
In 1901 there were 91,236 fur-seal cows. (Special Agent Treasury Department 
Report, 1901.) : 
n 1902 there were 94,8824 fur-seal cows. (Special Agent Treasury Department 
Report, 1902.) 
In 1903 there were 95,000 fur-seal cows. (Special Agent Treasury Department 
Report, 1903.) 
“This increase of some 5 per cent in the cows of 1902 over the cows of 1901 isa 
self-evident blunder. It is due to the increased massing of the cows around the 
rapidly disappearing bulls. The bulls fell off in number, ‘25 per cent”’ in 1902, from 
their figures of 1901. That caused an increased number of females or cows to appear 
around the surviving bulls of that year, while in fact the whole number of females 
was at least 12 to 15 per cent less. 
