470 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. . 



Mr. Clark. By the weighing of the skins at the salt house. 



Mr. Patton. That included what may have been killed for food ? 



Mr. Clark. They might have been killed in food killings. But in 

 the report there are 16 skins that could properly be called yearlings. 



Now, second, the results of the suspension of pelagic sealing: In 

 1912 there was an immediate gain of 15,000 breeding females, with 

 their pups — animals which would have been killed had pelagic sealing 

 been in operation in the spring and summer of 1912. 



In 1913 there was a normal increase of 10,000 pups, indicating a 

 like gain in young 3-year-old females, a gain in breeding stock of 12^ 

 per cent as noted above. 



This gain is not strictly normal, because the birth rate of 1911 from 

 which these young cows came was affected by pelagic sealing, that is, 

 diminished through the death of pups, unborn, with their mothers, 

 or as dependent pups, by starvation. 



A count of pups for 1914 should show the normal increment of gain 

 annually, the birth rate of 1912 being unaffected by pelagic sealing. 



The normal increment of breeding gain may be computed theo- 

 retically as follows: Breeding life of female 10 years; 10 per cent of 

 the adult female stock die annually. The quotas of 3-year-old males 

 in recent years show a survival of approximately 25 per cent of the 

 birth rate to the age of 3 years. That refers to the number of animals 

 killed by the leasing company, presumed to be 3 years of age. 



The Chairman. Now, what percentage, if you know, were killed 

 at sea by the pelagic sealers ? 



Mr. Clark. The joint commission of 1896 and 1897, that is, the 

 British-American commission, united and accepted and agreed upon 

 the figures which Mr. A. B. Alexander brought from the Bering Sea, 

 that 55 per cent of the pelagic catch was females. They also accepted 

 the report of Andrew Halkett, the Canadian commissioner, who found 

 a percentage of 84 females in 100 of the pelagic catch. Those two 

 figures were agreed upon as the proportion of females in the pelagic 

 catch by the joint commission of 1897. 



Males and females are equal at birth and subject to like losses. 

 The gross gain in young females is 25 per cent. The loss in adult 

 breeders is 10 per cent. The net annual gain is 15 per cent. We 

 have a gain for this year of 12^ per cent. 



Mr. Watkixs. You speak so certainly of the exact numbers. 

 What is there to prevent you from counting the same seal twice ? 



Mr. Clark. Well, the rookeries are divided by natural landmarks. 

 There are about 14 of them and the} 7- are divided in such a way that 

 there is no interchange, because we count them before the pups take 

 to the water, and if we start to count the Reef peninsula, for instance, 

 we finish that in the same day we start. 



Mr. Watkixs. So that there is no chance for the same ones to 

 intermingle with the others and get counted in a subsequent count ? 



Mr. Clark. No, sir; it could not occur. 



Now. third, the results of suspension of land sealing: To date it 

 has had no effect on the breeding life of the herd and can not have 

 until 6 to 8 years hence. The young males exempted from killing in 

 1912 must attain breeding age. 6 years at a minimum before they can 

 obtain harems, and the offspring of their begetting must attain the 

 ago of 3 years before they can appear as young breeding cows or as 

 killable males. That is, these animals allowed to escape in 1912 and 



