■250 



THE PUR SEAXiS OF THE PRIBILOP ISLANDS. 



The only log-book records at hand relating to the sealing grounds adjacent to the 

 Commander Islands show that eight Canadian vessels and one American vessel, seal- 

 ing in August, 1892, found the weather conditions similar to those of recent seasons, 

 there being but one day in that month of 1892 when seals were not taken. 



TaUe showing number of days during the months of August and September, 189H, when sealing was carried 



on about the Commander Islands. 



On the whole, it does not appear that the average weather conditions from season 

 to season are worth considering in their effect upon the catch of seals. 



WASTEFULNESS OP INDISCRIMINATE SEALINe. 



Pelagic sealing is not regularly practiced elsewhere than in Bering Sea and the 

 North Pacific Ocean. During the voyage of the Canadian schooner Director from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1895, 620 seals were obtained by pelagic sealing off the 

 Falkland Islands, and in 1897 a catch of 224 seals was made adjacent to the seal 

 rookeries of the Galapagos Islands. During the progress and decline of this industry 

 in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea those engaged in pelagic sealing have 

 stoutly maintained that the industry was not especially disastrous to the race of seals, 

 alleging that there was no excessive number of female seals destroyed; that the decline 

 in the catch during recent years has been due more to stormy weather than to scarcity 

 of seals, and that the various international restrictions of the past seven or eight years 

 have also greatly restricted the catch. It is a matter of fact, however, that the pelagic 

 catch is made up largely of female seals; that the weather conditions have not mate- 

 rially affected the annual catch, and that sealing, while restricted in some localities, 

 has remained unrestricted in others, thus leaving the fleet always at liberty to operate 



