
WOME DESHROM DHE SBALS AND SEA LIONS. 
PROF. W. T. HORNADAY, A. W. ANTHONY, PRESIDENT DAVID S. JORDAN, DR. B. W. EVERMANN, 
HON. GEO. M. BOWERS, COMR. THOS. PERRY, U.S.N., AND OTHERS. 
On the evidence of prominent fishermen of the 
city and by the opinions of fish experts, given be- 
fore the meeting of the Fish Commission a week 
ago, the sea lion has been convicted of being a de- 
stroyer of salmon and other valuable varieties of 
fish, and the Commissioners have decided on a 
war ot extermination against his species. In accor- 
dance with this decision Deputy A. W. Wilson and 
an assistant will leave to-morrow for tne Point Royes 
rookeries for the purpose of conducting experi- 
ments to ascertain the quickest method of ridding 
the waters of the pest. 
The work of destroying the seals will be extended 
to other rookeries later. Work will not be begun 
at the Farallones until instructions are received 
from the Treasury Department at Washington. 
The case against the sea lion has been made 
stronger within the past week by a report which 
came to the commissioners from a friend of E. 
Willis, the engineer at the Olympic pumping station 
near the Cliff House. While Engineer Willis was 
standing on the pier which extends out into the 
ocean he noticed a great commotion in the water 
about 50 feet up the beach. When he arrived at 
the spot he found a large sea lion worrying a salmon 
up toward the beach. Finally the salmon in its 
desperate struggle to escape destruction landed high 
and dry on the beach. Willis then interfered_in 
the fight and deprived the seal of his prey. The 
fish weighed 16 pounds.—San Francisco Chronicle. 
Mr. A. W. Anthony sent this clipping 
to Mr. W. T. Hornaday and commented 
on it as follows: 
On my return to San Francisco I find 
that the fate of the California sea lion has 
been settled offhand. See enclosed clip- 
ping from San Francisco. There may be 
cause for this war. but there is little evi- 
dence to work on and I for one doubt 
its being a wise move. Unfortunately 
no one can give ay evidence favorable 
to the seal. One close observer tells me 
that 25 years ago thousands of seal were 
found about the head of San Francisco 
bay near Redwood City. They were 
killed off and their decrease was followed 
by.a marked increase in rays and shovel- 
nose sharks, and by the almost entire ex- 
termination of the sturgeon. 
My friend could not say positively the 
sharks and rays destroyed eggs or young 
of valuable fish, but felt sure they did. I 
know the seals kill large numbers of 
shovelnose sharks and rays, for I have 
seen them do it. A few years ago when 
seal were much more abundant than now 
fish were equally plentiful and we heard 
nothing of the vast (?) damage done by 
the seals. 
‘The fishermen are apt to be misled by 
an idea based on about the amount of 
evidence given in the enclosed clipping— 
the killing of onefish—andafter extermin- 
ating the seals and lions they may find 
they have “sawed themselves off the end 
of the plank.” 
£05 
I am not certain the seals of this coast 
are beneficial to the fishermen, but [| 
should like to see the matter thoroughly 
investigated before any such sweeping ac- 
tion is taken; for I think the damage is at 
least greatly overestimated 
Mr. Hornaday endorses Mr. Anthony’s 
letter thus: 
This looks like a serious matter, and 
as stich is referred to the President of 
tiene SS: 
It looks to me like a move on a par 
with the ‘fool bird law” of Pennsylvania, 
which cost the farmers $1,000,000 or more. 
Interest in the preservation of the sea lion 
is to us a matter of sentiment, but to the 
fishermen of the Pacific coast the destruc- 
tion of these animals may easily prove the 
biggest kind of a boomerang. Every time 
the balance of nature is wantonly disturb- 
ed, somebody smarts for it. 
The Fish Commission should be warned 
and go slow, and be sure they are right 
before they go ahead. 
I am ready to join in a protest and a 
call for more time. 
On receipt of this correspondence I 
wrote the California Fish Commission as 
follows: 
On behalf of the 300,000 readers of REc- 
READONG ) distmbuted, otis ghout), “the 
United States and Canada, and on behalf 
of the 1,800 members of the League of 
American Sportsmen, also distributed 
throughout all of the states, I beg to pro- 
test against the proposed effort of your 
honorable board to destroy seals and sea 
lions on your coast. 
Every nature lover in the United States 
—and this means every true sportsman— 
is interested in the preservation of the 
fauna of the entire country. The seal is 
one of the most interesting and beautiful 
species of North American animals, and 
all such men are especially interested in 
the preservation and propagation of this 
species. 
The L. A. S. was organized primarily 
and purposely to protect the _ birds, 
mammals and fishes of the coun- 
try and every member of this League, 
as well as thousands of naturalists 
and nature lovers ot side of it will be 
shocked at the news of the proposed ac- 
tion of so formidable a body as yours, 
backed by a great commonwealth like 
that of California. 
It would seem from the evidence before 
me that you have yielded to the money- 
loving instincts of certain market fisher- 

