BS2 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 19, 1900. 
The Harriman Alaska Expedition. 
XL — Destruction of the For Seals. 
Since the discovery of the Pribilof Islands and their 
fur seals in 1786 the herd has had a varied history. More 
lhan once it has been almost exterminated, but has re- 
covered, only to again decline from some special cause. 
It is now in one of its periods of decline. This began 
about the year 1884, and has continued without any 
check until the present time, so that during the past sea- 
son it was believed that there were on the fur seal islands 
not more than 100,000 seals, as against 400,000 two years 
ago. A similar rate of decline would mean the practical 
extermination of the herd within four years. And there 
are people to-day who believe that this extermination will 
take place. 
Since the islands came into possession of the United 
States the quota of seal skins annually obtained from it 
was, up to 1889, TOO,ooo. In 1890 this quota was suddenly 
reduced to 21,000. At first the seals killed had been all 
three-year-olds, but later, as the three-year-olds became 
Jilore scarce, the killing age was lowered to two years, 
and later, even larger yearlings were killed. Of course, 
everjr seal killed at an age less than three years decreases 
the number of three-year-olds to be killed the succeeding 
season. So the bachelor seals grew less and less numer- 
ous, and their decreasing numbers drew attention to the 
number of breeders, which was also found to have grown 
much smaller. Since 1890, therefore, the breeding herd 
has been continually studied, but at first in so unintelli- 
gent a way that the results of the investigation are in 
many respects of dofibtful value. 
Nevertheless, there is one positive fact about which 
there is no doubt. The herd has rapidly grown smaller. 
The ground occupied by the rookeries is much less than 
formerly, and on either side of the rookeries are consid- 
bachelors could ever interfere with the development of 
the breeding herd. When the bachelors have hauled out 
on to the beach and are resting there, the natives sur- 
round them and cut out bunches of two hundred or more, 
which are then prevented from returning to the water, 
and are driven overland to the killing ground. Here 
they are killed with clubs, and at once skinned and car- 
ried to the salt house for treatment. 
It is evident that the destruction of these young males 
is not only not injurious to the breeding herd, but is a 
positive benefit to it. It lessens the number of breeding 
males, lessens their fighting, and tends to save the lives 
of the young pups, by keeping them from being trampled. 
Now, however, that the herd has become so small, it 
may be possible to injure it by a too close kilhng ofif of 
the three-year-olds, which might be carried to such a 
point that in the years to come there might be a lack of 
breeding bulls. This perhaps is not likely to happen. On 
the Komandorski Islands, at different times, there has 
taken place a great overkilling of males; so that on a cer- 
tain rookery there there were in 1896 only three bulls 
and between 500 and 1,000 females. Yet in the following 
year the pups, when counted on this rookery, were found 
to be 526, or almost as many as the cows of the preced- 
ing year were supposed to number. 
Driving has been alleged as the cause for the decrease 
in the size of the fur seal herd, and so also has a possi- 
ble change of habits, certain persons having alleged that 
the herds had been driven away from the Pribilof Islands 
and had taken up their abode on those of the Koman- 
dorski group. There is no evidence that either of these 
has had any efifect on the herd. The habits of the seal 
are fixed and are not to be lightly changed. It returns 
to its own breeding ground each year, just as the salmon 
returns to the river in which it was hatched. It is true 
that rarely small rookeries are abandoned, but usually 
from some natural cause. The fur seal is one of the 
most gregarious of animals and delights in a crowd. It 
cannot bear to be off by itself to one side. 
Although the seal is a timid animal and easily fright- 
ened, it is not greatly afraid of man. Indeed, it is not 
difficult for a careful person to walk or creep up so close 
floating on the water. In good weather the hours for 
sleeping are chiefly between 9 o'clock in the morning and 
5 or 6 in the evening; but in stormy weather they cannot 
sleep much, and so during fair weather after a storm sleep 
more soundly and can be more easily approached. The 
sleeping seal is usually taken with the spear. As soon as it 
is discovered everything is put in readiness and the canoe 
is paddled toward the animal without making the slight- 
est noise. At a distance of 30 to 40 feet, if the seal shows 
signs of being restless, the spear is hurled, and if it strikes 
the animal it seldom pulls out. The line attached to the 
spear is held in the Indian's hand, and he tries to draw 
the animal to the canoe, so as to kill it with a club. 
Seals which are traveling are commonly shot, some- 
times with the rifle, but preferably with the shotgun. 
Often it is possible to paddle within a very short distance 
of the animal before the shot is fired, and this is not 
always at once fatal, but it may be necessary to pursue the 
seal some distance before it can be shot again and se- 
cured. 
Some hint of the number of wounded seals which es- 
cape is given by the very considerable number of bucli- 
elors on the hauling grounds which carry buckshot in 
their bodies. At each killing of the seals the Aleuts 
gather up the lead found in the bodies, and on numerous 
occasions seals wounded by shooting have reached the 
island and died after coming ashore on the rookeries. 
The spear is the least wasteful way of taking the seals, 
and where this weapon is used the loss must be sliglit. 
In cases where the animal succeeds in tearing out the 
spear it no doubt recovers, and there is no loss of animals 
speared except by the tearing out of the spear head or 
the breaking of the line. 
The statistics of pelagic sealing, covering a period of 
thirty years, from 1868 to 1897 incjusive, show the total 
catch to have been 893,047 skins, to which must be added 
95,000 skins taken, the locality of which is unknown, tnak- 
ing a total of nearly 1,000,000 seals known to have been 
killed at sea. These figures include only the animals 
taken and accounted for by their skins wliich were 
brought to market. Nothing is known of the animals 
lost, either of those killed outright, whose bodies sank, or 
Photo by E. S, Curtis. 
erable tracts once occupied, but now deserted. This is 
shown by the worn stones, already alluded to, by the 
seal hair found in the soil, and by the vegetation 
which is beginning to spring up over these deserted 
areas. On some grounds on which the bachelor seals 
ttsed to haul, the deserted areas are ten to twenty times 
those now occupied. 
Another valuable though indirect evidence of the de- 
cline in the breeding herd is shown by the decrease in the 
mortality among nursing pups' in the breeding season. 
On one named rookery the numtjer of dead pups in 1896 
was more than twice as many as those counted in 1897. 
Moreover, more cows are being destroyed on the rookeries 
by the bulls each year. This results, naturally, from the 
diminution in the number of cows, among which the 
losses are now much more apparent than whea they 
were more abundant. But the m.ost striking and posi- 
tive evidence of the decrease is found in the lessened 
number of the seals fit for killing. At birth the sexes are 
equal; they are subject to the same natural enemies. As 
the number of the bachelor seals of a certain age grows 
smaller, it may be justly inferred that the cows of the 
same age are diminished in like ratio. Moreover, what- 
ever the quota of seals allowed to be killed, it is each 
year harder to obtain that quota. A conclusion reached 
from all the facts and figures gleaned by Prof. Jordan and 
his assistants is that in 1897 there had been a total de- 
cline in the seal herd of between four-fifths and five-sixths 
of its maximum size. 
The inquiry at once arises, to what cause is this enor- 
mous decline due? Some of the natural causes of death 
have already been mentioned, but most of them are in- 
considerable. Among the adult seals there is fighting 
from the bulls, and the cows are often injured by the 
bulls. The very young pups die from the attacks of a 
parasitic worm, and are also sometimes trampled to 
death by the bulls. Of course these causes of death have 
always existed, and no doubt the mortality from thetn 
was as great or greater when the herd was large than it 
is now when, it is small. The real cause of the decline 
of the herd is unquestionably artificial, and due wholly 
to man's interference with the balance of natttre. 
The seals are killed in two ways; on the land, as has 
always been done, and at sea, while on their migrations, 
a mode wholly of modern origin and begun about the 
year 1880. Previous to that the Indians of the Pacific 
Coast killed a lew seals as they were passing, but the 
number was inconsiderable. 
In land killing the only animals destroyed ai'e the 
young male seals of three years, of which there is always 
a great siirphi?; and no reasonable destruction of these 
FUR SEALS ON ST. PAUL ISLAND. 
to the animals as almost to be able to place the hand on 
them. Even though they may smell the observer and 
see him, they are not likely to be frightened, unless he 
shall make some sudden, quick motion, in which case they 
may perhaps turn to escape to the water. 
The cause of the decline of the fur seal herd of the 
Pribilof Islands is to be found in pelagic sealing — that is 
to say, in the taking of the seals at sea, either on their 
migrations or on their food excursions to and from the 
breeding grounds. In this form of sealing no discrimi- 
nation can be used, and so animals of both sexes and of 
every age are taken. 
From the earliest times the Indians of the northwest 
coast have taken the fur seal in their canoes, making long 
journeys to sea for this purpose. These seals were usually 
taken b}'- means of spears, and the number destroyed was 
inconsiderable. About the year 1872, however, began 
the practice of using small vessels, on which the Indians 
and their canoes were transported to the sealing grounds. 
Up to the year 1879 the number of such vessels was few, 
probably not more than five or six; but in 1880 the fleet 
had increased to sixteen, and in 1886 to thirtj'-four. 
Moreover, the vessels were no longer content to make 
excursions to intercept the herd off Cape Flattery, but 
began to follow it in its migrations from the mouth of 
the Columbia to the passes of the Aleutian Islands, and 
finally into the Bering Sea. 
Up to the year 1886 only Indian hunters were employed, 
and these worked in their canoes and used the spear; but 
as the fleet increased, white hunters were employed, and 
these used firearms, at first the rifle, and later the shot- 
gun, loaded with buckshot. When the rifle was used the 
loss of seals killed by sinking was very great, but the 
employment of the shotgun lessened this loss, although 
it always remained considerable. Few wounded animals 
were recovered, and many of those killed sank before 
they could be reached and taken into the boat. 
In 1891, at which time the sealing fleet numbered iiS 
vessels, a modus vivendi was declared, closing the waters 
of Bering Sea to pelagic sealing. The measure was put 
into force so late that it had little effect in 1891, but in 
1892 and 1893 the greater part of the pelagic sealing ^yas 
transferred to the Commander Island herd, from which 
66.000 skins were taken. 
When a sealing schooner reaches the ground the boats 
or canoes are lowered and move off in search of seals. 
They proceed side by side, moving to windward and 
forming a long line which covers a considerable expanse 
of water. The vessel follows, tr\dng to keep about even 
with the boats. The seals, when found, are either actively^ 
swimming or are asleep, or sometimes arc awake and 
Copyright, 1899, by E. H. Harriman. 
of the wounded ones which escaped to die. From 186S to 
1880 the catch was very small, ranging from 4,000 to 
5,000 skins yearly, but with the year 1881 it steadily in- 
creased until 1894, when the great catch was made of. 
141,143 skins. Since that year it has rapidly declined to 
a total of about 39,000 skins in the year 1897. The cause 
of this decline is the decline in the seal herd; in other 
words the lessened number of animals from which the 
catch is made. 
In Prof. Jordan's report interesting statistics are given, 
comparing pelagic and land killing. It is shown that in 
the years 1871 to 1875 the land killing on the Pribilof 
Islands, including all males taken for any purpose, aver- 
aged between 105,000 and j 10,000 seals, while the killing 
at sea for the same years averaged not far from 6,000 per 
year. Up to 1889 100,000 male seals were still killed 
annually on the islands, but the number killed at sea in- 
creased yearly from 5,500 in 1878 to 29,000 in 1889, and to 
61,000 in 1894, while the killing on land in i8go was 28,- 
000, in 1891 12,000, in 1893 7-500, in 1894 16,000, and in 
1897 19,000. During the earlier j'-ears named in this report 
there was no difficulty in procuring 100,000 seal skins, 
but as the pelagic sealing fleet increased and made larger 
catches, more and more difficulty was experienced in 
securing the males required for the land killing, until 
finally it became impossible to secure them, and the land 
killing had to be cut down in some j'ears to less than 
one-twentieth of what it had been. 
Since the Pribilof Islands came into possession of the 
United States nearly 3,000,000 male seals have been killed 
on land, while no females whatever have been killed. 
The fur seal herds, so long as land killing alone was 
done, maintained themselves in a state of stable equilib- 
rium; but as soon as the pelagic sealing was undertaken 
on a large scale and the female seals were killed by 
wholesale, the herd began to decline. Pelagic sealing, 
involving the killing of females as well as males, has 
caused the marked diminution in numbers in the seal 
herd. _ _ . ■> 
If the condition of the herd did not of itself show the 
great destruction of females that occurs in pelagic seal- 
ing, the reports of the custom house inspectors on the 
catches of American vessels engaged in this business, and 
of experts making similar investigations for the United 
States and Canadian governments, would tell the story. 
The custom house inspectors, examhiing skins for sex. 
report that 80 oer cent, of the catch of the pelagic sealers 
are females. The reports of the London furriers tell the 
same story. An examiner, sent out with an American 
sealing vessels, reports 62 per cent, of females nut of 1,500 
seals. An expert sent out for the Canadian Government 
