638 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



ins: to that. $95,500,000 at $25 apiece would be the value of the 

 skins. 



The Chairman. That is all I care to ask. 



Mr. McGuire. Who got those ? 



Mr. Lembkey. The decrease was caused, in my opinion, by the 

 killing of mother seals at sea by the pelagic hunters. 



Mr. McGuire. Then it is your judgment that the decrease in the 

 number of seals probably was due to pelagic sealing ? 



Mr. Lembkey. It was, of course. 



Mr. McGuire. And not due to the officers of the Government! 



Mr. Lembkey. Not in the least. 



Mr. McGuire. In no way ? 



Mr. Lembkey. In no way whatever. 



Mr. McGuire. When you said if they were left alone and no killing 

 was permitted on land or at sea, you said they would multiply ? 



Mr. Lembkey. I did. 



Mr. McGuire. You still say that, do you not ? 



Mr. Lembkey. Certainly. 



Mr. McGuire. But } t ou do not undertake to say that would be the 

 best means of handling them, rather than killing those that were 

 proper to be killed ? 



Mr. Lembkey. No. 



Mr. McGuire. Is it the economic way ? 



Mr. Lembkey. The economic way, in nry opinion, is to kill off a 

 certain number of surplus males, but, of course, leaving a sufficient 

 number to survive as breeders. 



Mr. McGuire. It would be just the same as turning loose a herd of 

 cattle; they would probably increase, but that would not be an 

 economic way of handling them? 



Mr. Lembkey. I must state, without any attempt to substantiate 

 any theory or anything like that, that my experience in 1S99, which 

 showed the presence of these thousands and thousands of idle bulls, 

 vicious and eager, endeavoring at all times to get cows that they 

 never could obtain, leads me to believe that the releasing of all males 

 now would be a serious disadvantage to the increase of the herd, as 

 well as a positive loss economically of the value of their skins. 



The Chairman. But your idea was that if all the killing on sea and 

 on land was stopped in about 18 or 19 years there would be about 

 4,700,000 seals on the island? 



Mr. Lembkey. That is a general statement. I am willing to 

 adhere to what I said. I do not wish in any way to mitigate it, but I 

 will say that that statement was made in connection with the relating 

 of the increase of the seals on Robben Reef, when they were left 

 absolutely undisturbed for a period of 15 or 16 years, and increased 

 during that time to probably their original numbers, which were 

 never large. 



The Chairman. How many seals do 3-011 think there would be 

 there if there were no killing on land or sea in five years from now? 



Mr. Lembkey. Our estimates lead us to believe that they would 

 increase at the rate of about 15 per cent a year — from 12 to 15 per 

 cent. I wish to state that at the time I made this statement I had 

 never made any endeavor to compute exactly the number of seals that 

 might be present in future. It was a rough guess. Since then I have 

 endeavored as closely as possible to forecast the increase in seal life 



