THE PACIFIC SEA-LIONS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17106, 30 March 1921, Page 9

THE PACIFIC SEA-LIONS.

_« ATTEMPT AT EXTERMINATION. The picturosquo soa-liona of the Pacific Ocean, the last big mammals remaining on tho American continent, arc to be destroyed. Science having do finitely proven that the sea-lions won a growing menace to tho fishing industry on the Pacific, fishermon from Alaska tp California, with the co-opera-tion of Canadian and American Gamo and Fish Commissions, have declared war upon -the huge auiuials and aro exterminating them as rapidly as possible. It is estimated that the Pacific Coast sea-lions number tons of thousands. Each sea-lion will eat fifty to a hundred large salmon daily, or their equivalent weight in cod, halibut, or other commercially valuable fish. He is a predatory monster, and after having gorged himself with' fish from a school, will destroy hundreds of others by biting chunks out of them, presumably for the sheer enjoyment of killing them. There is a bounty given for sealions slain, and assurance given of the fullest co-operation by Canadian authorities in destroying tho mammals. Also, to make sea-lion hunting profitable as an industry, aquatic leather plants have been established to utilise the hides and by-products of tho animals, also of hair seals, which may be found in even greater quantities along the whole Pacific Coast. A sealion, when full grown, attains a length . of from twelve to sixteen feet, and weighs approximately about 30001b. A full-grown seal weighs about >7filb< About one-tenth of the-total-weight .of. either animal is fat. Seal and sea-lion oil is valuable as a preventative of rußt and as a leather dressing, because of its heavy viscosity. The skins of both animals are used in tho manufacture of bags, gloves,, and other articles. Sea-lion hunting is dangerous, and rarely is found a hunter who will attack the animal from the water. lions are fast swimmers,, and, when woundod, will pursue a small boat for miles, alternately diving aijd throwing themselves out of the water.' They have been known to hurl themselves into the low hulls of fishing'schooners and sink the boat by their gr«!at weight. Because of the sea-lion's fearlessness and agility, fishermen in fontor have avoided him unless he got caught in their lines and traps. When caught in a net, a sea-lion furiously, ;teafs" it to pieces, and when imprisoned in the pocket of a fish-trap, into which he has followed a school of salmon, : he will fling his huge bulk with great furj? against the trap again and again until ho has demolished?it. ' ; ....: t . Although some sea-lions are killed from the decks of fast motor-boats,' most of the hunting done '»n the rocky beaches. The principal huntinggrounds are on the north'shore<of Vancouver Cape Flattery, on tho American side of the boundary line, and off the Columbia river. During 1920, a single hunter turned into the Washington State Game Commission 362 lion scalps and tho scalps of 1300 seals. The latter are worth one dollar each. It is estimated that'the slaying of each | sea-lion conserved fish resources, to the value of 1000 dollars (£200). Seals, although smaller in size, are, nevertheless, nearly as destructive as the. senlions, since they pursue schools of fish, inUi the bays and inlets of the coast, and sometimes even follow the, fish up the river in which they spawn. They,! like the sea-lions, also continue wantonly to destroy fish after their hunger, is satisfied, often leaving the water strewn with the bodies of: their victims.