FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS 
815 
' Upon his arrival at the islands it was found that the rookeries had been still 
further depleted during the intervening winter by at least 30 per cent, according 
to his estimates, and that there were scarcely more than 200 bachelors present at 
any time on the hauling beaches. Moreover, even if that many could have been 
killed, to do so would have endangered the future sup])ly of male life; hence, after 
consultation with the local administrator of the islands, he decided to allow the killing 
of 200 cows, 60 on Bering Island and 140 on Copper Island, in place of 200 bachelors. 
The number of seals on the rookeries was now so small that he thought an 
approximate count could be easily made. It is probable that this is the most 
nearly correct estimate made of the Commander Islands herd at any time, though 
the number of pups is probably considerably (possibly 20 per cent) underestimated. 
The tabulation of the count on all the rookeries follows: 
FuT seals on Commander Islands rookeries in 1911 
}■ 
Rookery 
Half 
bulls 
Bulls 
Cows 
Black 
pups 
— 
COPPER ISLAND 
Glinka rookeries (July 22-25, new style) : - , i r i ;•! - 
8 
311 
650 
184 
73 
1, 101 
20 
37 
457 
962 
585 
216 
1, 078 
15 
1 
1 
2 
8 
4 
2 
15 
Palata - — - --- --. 
Urili and Peresheyek _ _ _ 
7 
Karabelnoye rookery (July 20, new style) : 
Nerpitchi Kamen _ 
Total 
9 
31 
2,347 
3,350 
BERING ISLAND 
North rookery: 
Reef - - - 
4 
1,150 
20 
159 
891 
35 
338 
47 
Orlof Kamen .-. 
2 
■ Klshotchnoye - --- 
Total - — 
6 
1,329 
1,311 
'* Total (both Islands). .:A-™L.i!hiL:il.-'.'.:.L..L'.-.. 
9 
37 
1 3, 676 
4, 661 
I Suvorof (Viestnik Rybopromyshlennosti, Vol. 31, Sept., 1916, p. 446) gives 4,988 cows as the total for both islands. 
In addition, there were counted on the various beaches 128 dead black pups 
and in the water off the rookeries about 415 cows. If, however, allowance is made 
for the probable number of black pups overlooked, the cows absent at sea feeding, 
the number of bachelors hauled out (220) , and those at sea (including yearling males 
and females), the probability is that the Commander Islands herd in 1911 did 
not exceed 15,000 of both sexes and all ages. 
" By contrast it may here be noted that at the same time the Pribilof herd num- 
bered about 125,000 seals all told, or eight times as many. During the prosperous 
days of the fur-seal industry, about 1880, the Commander Islands herd was 
nearly one-half that of the Pribilof Islands. Now, at the lowest ebb, the decline 
had been so entirely out of proportion that it was only one-eighth the size of the 
American herd. Nothing can better illustrate the disaster which had befallen the 
Russian herd. Even during this year of its extreme decline the factor that 
brought on the disaster was more active and destructive than ever before. The 
Japanese raiders and pelagic sealers, driven to desperation by the gradually dimin- 
ishing catches, were growing more and more aggressive and reckless. It is necessary, 
