DECISION TO KILL SEALS CRITICISED

Chronicle (Levin), 11 July 1946, Page 8

DECISION TO KILL SEALS CRITICISED

NEED FOR 1NVESTIGATION CHRISTCHURCII, July 9. Scientific investigation of New ZeaLandts fur seal breeding rookeries and detailed inf'onnation about the market- 1 iiig of skins are needed if tlie Govern- - ment hopes to revive the seallng industry, according to Dr. li. A. Falla, director of tlie Oanterbury Museuin, who has studled seal life in the Antarctic. and in several sub-antarctic islands. Dr. Palla to-day described the proclamation of an open season for fur seals this year as an unenlightened experiment which was indefensible on seie^itilie grounds. He said the first open season in 22 years had lieen proclaimed because the. fur seals had increased to such an extent in that period ,tnat llsliermen working in Foveaux Strait and at Stewart Island considcred them a nienace to the fishing industry. -i Successive Governments could have ' , assessed the situation progressively in the last 22 years and more, but it was a humiliating fact that such a serious piece of legislation ,as the new seal lishery regulations had to be based 011 the opinjons of fishermen who had been waiting hopefully for an ojien season. The ilarine Departmeut intended to earry out a scientific investigation during the open season, but that should have been done long before. Record a Sorry One "Our record here is a sorry one," said Dr. Palla, after describing the North Pacific fur seal industry 's flourishing position because of biological investigation and the scientific supervision of the United States Govern,ment. "Hincq the boom days either sealing has been revived here for a short open season or there has been active poaching whenever the seals showed signs of increasing and as com'mercial or political expedieney dictated. No serious investigation has ever been nndertaken and there has been 110 real change in the method of indiscriminate lcilling. Incredible as it must seein to informed people abroad, the 1940 regulations nowhere proliibit the killing of cows, j'earlings and the" old bulls which are the mainstay of breeding rookeries. The inference is that tliey may be killed to ensure u.e desired reduction." Dr. Palla said the views of praetical men that the increasing seals were dejdeting the stocks of food fishes, mainly blue cod, must be respected, but they should be tested. When Ne^v Zea- . land's fur seals numbered thousands for every hundred to-day the cod had managed to survive. If the present seal population was able to deplete the blue cod there must be sonie more serious faetor operating as well, and the reduction of tlie seals could not do mere .than give temporary local relief. No Marked Recovery "The extent of the increase in the seal population has been vaguely stated and has been assumed to be general," added Dr. Palla. ' ' The last two open seasons were announced in the same optiniistic way, but it did not take very long to reduce the seals to an unprofitable reumant. According to our admittedly incomplete records there has been, no marked recovery in any of the outlying islands in the closed areas which are assumed to be great natural sanctiiaries. ' ' Dr. Palla said there was no official inl'orniation about the market for skins, and the economie advisers were going to have some headaches unless they were already liardened to unprofitable undertalcings. Prices were disappointing and unproiitable in the 1915 and 1924 open seasons, and the return from confiscated poached skins about 12 years ago was even worse. Now prices depended on a speeialised and exacting market, the standard being a three-year-old bull skin cut and treated to a standard specification. "Supposing that our sealers are now instructed 011 paper liow to do it, they are still going to bring back all ages and sizes of both sexes," said Dr. Palla. "Then eomos tlie mai'keting. Is tlie Customs Departraent to -pay each sealer a guaranteed price and the Government then to assume the risk? It seems hardly wortli it. "