PROFITS OF SEALHUNTING.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 11 September 1914, Page 7

PROFITS OF SEALHUNTING.

' WHY YOUNG MALE SEALS ARE > | SACRIFICED. ; | . : Nations have quarrelled and traders . ha\e fought over that innocent am- : phibious creature, the fur seal, the , breeding grounds of which are the Pribilof Islands in the North Pacific. , Just over twenty years ago the fur i seal became the subject of much complicated controversy between ' England, the United States, and ; ! other European nations, the upshot of which was that the American Government took steps to regulate the killing of fur seals in the region of the Pribilof Islands, in order to prevent threatened extermination ; and at the present time every effort is being made to restore the gigantic seal herds which years ago were to be found in that part of the world. Until a few years ago they were slaughtered indiscriminately, males as well as females, fleets of vessels intercepting the seals as they arrived for breeding purposes on the islands in June and July, and spearing or shooting every seal that was within reach. The worst feature of this wholesale slaughter was that from 70 to 90 per cent, of the seals killed at sea were females. —Indeed,'"accord ing to a writer in "CountryLife," the loss in three years to the Pribilof herd was no fewer than 500,000 seals, of which a large proportion were pregnant females. The profits made by these sealhunters, when no restrictions were placed upon pelagic hunting, may be gathered from the fact that, when in 1890 a new corporation' rented from the United States Government the right to catch seals on the Pribilof Islands, the company not only paid an annual rent ol £12,000 and a tax of just over £2 " on each skin, but, in addition, provided free dwellings, churches, schools, fuel, and medical attendance for the natives, and cared for the aged, widows, and orphans. Since 1910, however, the United States Government have exercised direct control over the taking and marketing of seal skins, and this has resulted in great pecuniary advantage to the Government. But of far greater importance is the placing of the whole herd, for the first time in its history, under com tinuous scientific observation and control. One result of the new arrangement is the judicious killing of the male seals when they are two or three years old. This is done in order to maintain the physical condition of the herd at the highest, point of perfection. The fur seal is a highly polygamous animal, and hitherto the number of males produced has been far in excess of the requirements of Nature for the 'propagation of the species. The consequence it that the preservation and increase of the seal herd is entirely compatible with the judicious sacrifice of a limited number of young male'seals each year. Indeed, it is said that if not , a single male seal were to be killed on the Alaskan Islands or at sea during the next five years, not a single additional seal Would be pro. duced as a result of that course. Furthermore, if not a single male seal were to be killed on the islands or at sea during the next twenty years, not a single seal would be added to the herd that will not be added if the present policy of restricted killing of surplus males is continued.