NOTED BRITISH
FISHERIES MAN
TELLS OF SEALS
J. P. BABCOCK, RECENT VISITOR
IN SEWARD SENDS INTEREST
ING ARTICLE ON FUR SEAL.
As was published in the Seward
Gateway the forepart of last month,
P. J. Babcock, head of the British
Columbia Fisheries department, who
was a recent visitor in Seward, fol
lowing his return from a trip of in
spection of the seal rookeries to the
westward and who was reputed to
be the unofficial representative ot
Great Britain in the matter of the
seal treaty, the first of the seal and
halibut articles which he kindly said
■he would submit at a later date, was
received yesterday, and is published
herein:
The history of the world’s fur seal
fisheries is a record of cruelty and
waste. Commercially the fur-seals
were formerly the most valuable of
fur-bearing animals. As a group
they were the most abundant. They
were of world-wide distribution, be
ing found in the Antarctic, on both
the east and west coasts of South
America, in Japan, on the Comman
der Islands, on the coast of Austral
ia and New Zealand, and Alaskan
waters. Vrtually all but those on the
Pribilof Islands, the Commander Is
lands, and the Japanese Islands, and
a small island off the La Platte River
Uruguay, have been commercially ex
terminated.
The herd on the Pribilof Islands,
Alaska, was formerly the largest. On
the purchase of Alaska in 1867 by the
United States this herd was estimated
to contain over two million individ
ual seals. Some estimates placed
it as high as three millions. Under
the policy adopted by the American
government klling was limited to
bachelor males taken on land. Pe
lagic killing wras not permitted. The
total number killed per year was
limited to one hundred thousand of
these bachelor males only. The to
tal pelagic catch in the North Pacific
up to 1906 wTas 877,331. The skins
were sold in London for $10,307,359.
The total bachelor male skins taken
from the Pribilof Island herd in those
thirty-eight years—1868 to 1906 in
clusive—totalled 3,341,579 and the
raw skins were sold in London for
$47,242,998.
Due to the rapid increase in pelag
ic sealing and the fatal effects of
such practice, the herd on the Prib
ilof Islands rapidly declined. The
census of the herds in 1911, when the
treaty became effective, showed that
the herds totalled but 127,000 indi
viduals, and the kill of bachelor males
on the island that year was but three
thousand seven hundred and sixty
tour.
The Fur-seal Treaty came into ef
fect in 1911. Since that time kill
ing has been confined to the islands
only bachelor males being taken. The
1923 census of the herd showed that
it had increased to 697,158 individual
seals, a gain in fourteen years of
570,158, or nearly 450 per cent. The
number of skins taken in 1923 totalled
31,156 or 27,392 more than in 1912, a
gain of over 120 per cent.
Fur seals breed only on land. They
return after migration, to their cus
tomary breeding-places with great
persistence. They cannot be driven
away, stupidly remaining untl nearly
exterminated, as was the case on all
rookeries in the Antarctic, Australia,
New Zealand, South America, Japan
and Siberia. So certain is their
habit of returning to their breeding
grounds that re-establishment soon
follows protection.
Fur-seals are highly polygamous and
the rookery communities are divid
ed into harems. The breeding male—
bulls over six years of age—arrive at
the islands first early in June and
fight furiously for possession of a
place. The females follow and di
vide themselves over the rookery in
numbers of from twenty to a hun
dred to a male. The bachelor males
and the immature females accompany
the northern migration and “haul
out” on the rock adjacent and over
looking the breeding grounds. The
young are born in the harem shortly
alter the females arrive and remain
there until the last of August or un
til early in September, being nursed
by their mothers, ■who, after giving
birth, go to sea for food, ranging
from two hundred to three hundred
miles from the rookeries. At first
the mothers return frequently. Grad
ually the trip is extended until, at the
end of the island residence the pup
is fed only once in ten days or more.
The highly polygamous habit natural
ly results in a large number of sur
plus males. Formerly the Pribilof
Islands produced a surplus of 100,000
males per year, which herded them
selves on near-by “hauling grounds”
adjacent to the breeding rookeries.
It is from these bachelor males that
the catch on the islands is made. The
United States has never permitted
the killing of females on the islands
or within the three-mile limit at
sea.
Pelagic sealing, being conducted in
the open sea, permits no selection be
ing made and the kill consists of both
young and old, male and female. By
far the greater proportion consisted
of females. Pelagic sealing during
the northern migration in the spring
results in the destruction of many
females and their unborn pups. Pe
lagic sealing in the summer and the
early fall destroys mainly females
that have a nursing pup on the rook
eries, which in consequence dies of
starvation, and each female is with
pup. The female is served by the
bull within a few days after her pup
is born. The period of gestation is
only a few days short of a year. The
killing of each female means not only
her death, but the death of her nurs
ing pup in the harem and the death
of the pup she is then carrying. The
killing of any bird, animal or fish
under such conditions means the de
struction of the species.
The last ten years of pelagic seal
ing in the North Pacific so decimat
ed the herds that the hunting was
no longer profitable. Up to 1902 pe
lagic sealing was almost wholy con
ducted by Canadians, but in that year
the Japanese became engaged and as
a result of a bounty of ten dollars a
ton given by the Japanese govern
ment to foster the deep-sea fisheries
and pelagic sealing, Japanese vessels
engaged in sealing increased yearly.
In 1906 Japanese sealers landed on
the Pribilof Islands and killed both
male and female seals. The guards
killed some of the Japanese raiders.
The advent of Japanese sealers
soon effected a reduction in the Can
adian catch, though it had been de
dining for some years. In 1905 Ca
nadian vessels averaged per vessel
725 skins; in 1906, 596; and in 1907
but 359 skins. By 1910 pelagic seal
ing was no longer profitable; most
sealers were losing money.
On February 27th, 1908, William
Sloan, M. P., in the House of Com
mons in Ottawa, in speaking of the
fur-seal question, said;
“I have shown the value to the
world of the fur-seal fisheries of the
North Pacific Ocean.
“I have pointed out the urgency of
acton being taken to save this val
uable animal from total extinction.
“I have suggested the Hague Tri
bunal as competent and unbiased to
deal with this question.
“In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, the
destruction of the fur-seal species
would be unwarranted; furthermore,
it would be an unnatural, immoral,
and unpatriotic policy.
“The protection and conservation
of the fur-seals of the North Pacific
Ocean is an obligation due posterity
by the nations of today who are di
rectly responsible and directly inter
ested.
“This question is not one that can
be settled on lines of selfish consid
eration. It can only be settled by
compromise and generous patriotic
statesmanship.”
In that speech Mr. Sloan laid down
the principles upon which the Fur
seal Treaty was afterwards drawn.
That speech is now as important as
when delivered. It is the one not
able speech made in Ottawa upon the
question.
Since the treaty took effect, Can
ada has received as her share of the
proceeds of the bachelor seals killed
on the Pribilof Islands, the sum of
$650,203.77. Since 1920 the demand
for seal-skins has decrease and the
price fallen to a low level. If the
present treaty expres and pelagic
sealng is again permitted, the herd on
the Pribilofs will be destroyed in five
or six years. At existing prices pe
lagic sealing cannot be made profit
able after a year or two. The con
struction of a fleet in Canada to en
gage in pelagic sealing will be fol
lowed by the equipment of a fleet
by Japanese, neither of which will
prove profitable.
The safeguarding of the Pribilof
herd and that at the mouth of the
La Plata River, Uruguay, has proved
a sound business policy.
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The Canadian pelagic fleet was a
British Columbia fleet. Almost the
entire investment was made by the
British Columbians. It was a Brit
ish Columbia .fishery; no other Pro
vince was engaged. The treaty put
an end to that industry. The U.
S. pays Canada fifteen per cent of the
sales o) skins for the surrender of
her pelagic rights. Under the pro
visions of the treaty the Pribilof
herds will grow and in time equal
in numbers those of 1867—2,000,000
ot 3,000,000. When the fashion
changes and seal skins again ad
vance, the return from the sale of
skins may equal that of the period
1868 to 1906; to wit, $47,242,998. If
so, Canada’s share would total $7
086,347.
If pelagic sealing is resumed the
herds will soon be destroyed and
Canada will reap no benefit. A
glowing asset will be destroyed.
The Fur-seal Treaty of 1911, signed
by Great Britain, the United States,
Japan and Russia, protects, so far
as those four countries are concern
ir
ed, the three northern species of fur
seals, (the Alaskan, Japanese and the
Russian). It prohibits killing fur
seals in the water. It permits on
ly the killing of male seals on the
land by the respective governments
owning the islands on which the seals
herd. In order that Great Britain
would give up her right to kill seals
on hgh seas, the United States offer
ed and Great Britain accepted a fif
teen per cent interest in the Alaska
fur-seal herd. Russia and Japan did
the same. So Great Britaiin, by the
surrender of Canada’s right to engage
in pelagic sealing, which was no long
er of value, gained not only a fifteen
per cent interest in the Alaska fur
seal herd, but a fifteen per cent in
terest in the Russian and Japanese
herds as well. She acquired a grow
ing asset.
This very substantial interest wiir
continue just so long as the treaty *
remains in force and the money value
of the fifteen per cent interest will
increase every year. Should the
(Continued on Page Three)
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