28 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
Statistics of the seals driven for killing show that on the two 
islands 31 and 37 per cent, respectively, of the drives were released 
as being too large, too small, or marked for breeders. There was a 
noteworthy scarcity of very small seals in the drives, even late in the 
season when the yearlings are expected to come in numbers. 
The quota of bachelor seals to be preserved for breeding purposes 
was marked and released during the last week in J une. The number 
was 2,000, half of them being 2 years old and half 3 years old. 
A count of the breeding bulls between July 13 and 16 showed 1,071 
with harems on St. Paul Island and 267 with harems on St. George 
Island, and 422 others on both islands. The average number of 
cows per harem was ascertained to be 42.1 on St. Paul and 34.7 on 
St. George. 
During the season a special count of the seal herd was made by 
Mr. George A. Clark, a member of the fur-seal commission of 
1896-97, to whom was assigned the detailed study of the rookeries 
in those years. His investigations in 1909, following the same meth- 
ods and having the same scope, are particularly interesting and im- 
portant. It appears that the fur-seal herd has undergone a heavy 
decline during the past thirteen seasons, as evidenced by the fact that 
in 1896 and 1897 there were 157,000 and 130,000 breeding females, 
while in 1909 there were only 50,000. This decline has been caused 
by the continuance of pelagic sealing, which results in the killing of 
the females in excess of the natural increment of young breeders. 
The injurious effects of pelagic sealing have greatly increased in re- 
cent years owing to the presence of a large fleet of Japanese vessels 
using firearms and operating throughout the season in close prox- 
imity to the rookeries, sometimes forming a close cordon through 
which the seals have had to pass on their way from and to the 
rookeries. 
The fur-seal service has come under the jurisdiction of the Bureau 
at a time when the condition of the seal herd is worse than ever be- 
fore, when the outlook is most discouraging, and when the contract 
for the lease of the islands for a period of twenty years must, under 
the law, be renewed. Under the existing circumstances the value of 
the franchise is greatly diminished, large financial losses may be 
sustained by the Government, and the perpetuity of the herd is seri- 
ously menaced. For many years the precarious condition of the fur- 
seal herd has been constantly brought to the attention of the Govern- 
ment by various persons well qualified to present the matter, and 
every authority has forcefully pointed out the immediate necessity 
of the Government’s concluding some arrangement by which the 
slaughter of seals when away from the islands in search of food 
should be prevented. The net outcome of the work, arguments, 
recommendations, and pleas of a long procession of special connnis- 
