Concurrent with the drastic change in numbers has been a 
pronounced shrinkage of the occupied range and a great curtailment in 
the number of “hauling grounds" regularly used. Figure 1, adapted from 
Fay (1957), clearly demonstrates the decrease in summer range. The de- 
crease in hauling grounds used is equally pronounced. Sdobnikov (1956), 
speaking of the Siberian Coast, says that "On the coast of the Chukotsk 
Peninsula, out of 33 walrus herds available in the past, only 3 remained 
in 1954." On the American side, the only hauling ground regularly used 
is on the Walrus Islands in Bristol Bay. Formerly there were hauling 
grounds on the Pribilof Islands, near Amak Island, near Port Moller on 
the Alaska Peninsula (Scammon, 1874), on St. Lawrence Island (Murie, 
1936), and near Cape Lisbourne on the Arctic Coast (Bernard, 1925). 
The first published evidence of awareness of excessive 
slaughter and consequent population decline in the Pacific walrus was by 
Scammon ( 1874 ). He says: "Among the numerous enemies of the walrus, 
it is to be regretted that the whalers are included, they having been 
driven to the necessity of pursuing them on account of the scarcity of 
Cetaceans. Already the animals have suffered so great a slaughter at 
their hands that their numbers have been materially diminished, and they 
have become wild and shy, making it difficult for the Esquimaux to suc- 
cessfully hunt them, in order to obtain a necessary supply of food. It 
is stated that there has been much suffering among these harmless people 
of the far north, on account of this source for supplying themselves 
with an indispensable article of sustenance being to an alarming extent 
cut off," 
From Scammon's time to the present there have been a number of 
publications decrying the slaughter and approaching extinction of the 
Pacific walrus. Unfortunately, these have aroused little public support, 
and the sporadic actions that have been spurred by the various publica- 
tions have been inadequate to reverse the downward trend in the walrus 
population. Significant factors that have served to alter the rate of 
destruction of the walrus have been as follows: 
1. The decline in whaling. Walruses alone were not 
sufficiently attractive to lure white hunters to the Bering and Chukchi 
Seas, and with the virtual elimination of whaling in the late 19th 
century, large-scale commercial exploitation of walruses also ceased. 
2. Passage of the "Walrus Act" in 1941. This act accorded 
the privilege of taking walruses exclusively to Alaskan aboriginals and 
prohibited the export of raw ivory and of hides from the Territory of 
Alaska. It made no provision for regulating the harvest, and its 
prohibition against export of raw ivory was unenforceable. 
3. World War II, with the consequent stationing in remote 
areas of Alaska of significant numbers of men. These men provided a 
market for both carved and uncarved ivory in proximity to native vil- 
lages, and thus stimulated the harvest of walruses for ivory. The same 
trend has continued since the end of the war. 
2 
