PELAGIC SEALING. 243 



On the Northwest coast sealing grounds sealing begins late in December and ends 

 the last of April. Very few vessels are actively engaged until February. As soon 

 as the vessels are on the ground, sealing goes on more or less regularly until the close 

 of the season. The great extent of this hunting ground permits of seals being taken 

 along some portions of their migrating route when the weather does not permit of 

 their being taken on others. The following tables show the days when seals were 

 taken along the Northwest coast during the. seasons of 1895, 1896, and 1897. The 

 earliest sealing is off the coast of California, where it is commenced by two or three 

 American and Canadian vessels late in December, some of these vessels proceeding 

 to the Japan coast in January. During January and February other vessels clear for 

 the sealing grounds, but the fleet, as a whole, is not actively engaged until March and 

 April, when the bulk of the catch is taken. In 1896 most of the Canadian fleet 

 cleared from Victoria late in January, eight vessels not clearing until late in February. 

 No seals were taken by Canadian vessels until February 24 of that year. Vessels 

 clearing from ports in Puget Sound in January, 1896, did not commence sealing until 

 after the middle of February, and three of the Puget Sound vessels did not clear 

 until some time in March. 



From an examination of the table for 1896 showing the number of days from 

 January 10 to April 30 when pelagic sealing was carried on by the Canadian and 

 American vessels off the Northwest coast, it appears that seals were taken every day 

 during the month of April, and every day but four during the month of March. From 

 January 10 to February 28 there were 17 days when seals were not taken, but many 

 vessels had not yet cleared, while those already cleared were making up their crews 

 at Indian villages along the coast. 



The vessel making the longest cruise on the Northwest sealing ground was the 

 J. Hjgpinger, which began sealing off the coast of California on December 17 (1895), 

 took the last seals for the season off the coast of Washington on April 21. During 

 this time seals were taken on 69 days or a little over half of the whole number of days 

 for the cruise. A similar table for the season of 1895 shows that there were 3 days in 

 April and 1 in March when seals were not taken. 



In 1897 about a third of the fleet was engaged in January; by the end of 

 February more than half the Canadian and American vessels were sealing, the 

 entire fleet not being at work as a whole until March and April. Late in December 

 (1896) 110 seals were taken by 4 Canadian and 2 American vessels off the coast of 

 California. In 1897 seals were taken by many vessels with more or less regularity 

 throughout the season. 



