44 
FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA, 1909. 
An examination of the land and pelagic catches for a series of years, 
however, fails to show such a close connection between the land and 
sea catches as would be supposed. The following table contains the 
pelagic and land catches from 1900 to date: 
Pelagic and Land Catches of Seals, 1900 to 1909, Inclusive. 
Year. 
Pelagic 
catch. 
Land. 
catch. 
Year. 
Pelagic 
catch. 
Land 
catch. 
1900 
35, 191 
24,050 
22,812 
27.000 
29.000 
22,470 
22,672 
22,386 
19,292 
13. 128 
1905 
25,320 
21,236 
16,036 
18, 151 
14,368 
14,476 
14,964 
14,996 
14,336 
1901 
1906 
1902 
1907 
1903 
1908 
1904 
1909. 
It can be seen from this table that a heavy pelagic catch (35,191) 
occurred in 1900, yet the land catch of 1902 was within a hundred 
of what it was in 1900. We find a heavy pelagic catch in 1903 
(27,000), yet the land catch of 1905 seems not to have decreased to 
any appreciable extent when we consider the restrictions upon land 
killing in that year and the number of bachelors released for breeding. 
The pelagic catch of 1904 increased to 29,000, and we have found a 
decrease in the number of bachelors present in 1906, although this 
might have been merely a coincidence. We find in 1905 still a large 
pelagic catch (25,320), but we have already stated that the number 
of bachelors present in 1907 was greater than the preceding year. 
In 1907, on the other hand, we had a small pelagic catch (16,000), 
but, notwithstanding this, the number of bachelors in 1909 was 
smaller than ever before, when, according to theory, there should 
have been more bachelors present than formerly. 
The effect of pelagic sealing is cumulative and twofold; it diminishes 
not only the number of 2-year-old seals appearing two years there- 
after, but also the number of seals in general appearing during the 
year itself. Those females killed in the spring off the northwest coast 
of course do not reach the rookeries, thereby decreasing the number 
of breeding seals in that year. This means a decreased number 
of pups born and of 2-year-old seals appearing two years later, but 
the effect is felt also in the year in which the pelagic catch is made. 
For this reason it is hard to attribute a decrease in bachelor or 
other seals occurring in any year specifically to the pelagic killing 
of any former year. Should the pelagic catches be greater the herd 
will decrease; if they become less the herd will remain stationary or 
will increase, but it is not possible, in the light of present knowledge, 
to trace a reduction in bachelors exactly to the pelagic catch of any 
one year, although the effect must be felt sooner or later. 
