136 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
FUTURE PROSPECTS ON THE COMMANDER ISLANDS. 
The Commander Islands seal herd, originally and at its best only half the numer- 
ical strength of the Pribylof herd, is being killed off so rapidly that in a season or two 
it must become iitterly unprofitable to hunt them in the open sea. If the destruction 
is allowed to go on much further it is feared that it will take a very long time before 
the rookeries can be to any degree restored, even under the most effective protection. 
If, on the other hand, really protective measures could at once be instituted, I 
am of the opinion that it will be i^ossible to repair the damage within a reasonable 
time. It may not be possible to bring back the palmy days of 50,000 skins a year, 
but it might yet be feasible to render the business i)rofitable to the natives, the 
Government, and the fur trade. 
This may to many appear as a rather optimistic view, but I base my opinion on 
the well-established fact of the quick recoveiy and rapid replenishing of the rookeries 
during the beginning of the lease of Hutchinson, Kohl, Philippeus Co., as well as 
upon the wonderfully recuijerative powers of the herds as demonstrated in the history 
of Eobben Island. A graphic demonstration of an estimated increase would bear 
out this opinion, but as being chiefly speculatory, and therefore outside the limits 
which I have endeavored to keep in this report, is here left out of consideration. 
RECOMMENDATIONS. 
The Commander Islands being outside the boundaries of our own country, recom- 
mendations by the present writer as to the protection and management of the fur-seal 
business may seem to be out of place. Perhaps, therefore, I ought to have called the 
following paragraphs suggestions rather than recommendations. The friendly coopera- 
tion shown by the Eussian authorities, however, has led me to give these, my personal 
opinions, a more definite form. 
In the first place, any protection to be effective must be established by interna- 
tional agreement between all the powers directly interested, viz, Eussia, Japan, Great 
Britain, and the United States. Separate action is apt to be disastrous. It has thus 
far not only resulted in i)rotective regulations which do not protect, but the English- 
American modus vivendi of 1892 was unquestionably the beginning of the ruin of the 
Commander Islands rookeries. 
As to the measures to be recommended, it may at once be stated that only radical 
and total prohibition can be effective. A short period of complete stoppage of sealing 
will i)i'oduce more good than three times as long a i)eriod of j)artial protection. The 
recent history of fur-seal protection has shown the utter failure of halfway measures. 
The special recommendations which I should be inclined to make are as follows: 
(1) Total and absolute prohibition of pelagic sealing in the Korth Pacific Ocean 
and Bering Sea at all seasons for at least six years. 
(2) After that time total prohibition at all seasons in Bering Sea and Pacific 
Ocean west of 175° east longitude and north of 52° north latitude, or, if preferable, 
within a zone of 150 nautical miles from the islands. 
(3) Total prohibition of killing on land for one year. 
(4) After that time bachelor seals to be taken on land not later than August 1. 
The total prohibition of pelagic sealing for six years is thought to be sufilicient to 
restock the rookeries with females to the extent that at least an equilibrium of the 
herd may be attained. 
