The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-09-11
HAWAII CAN HUNT SEALS.
Its Vessels Free to Prey Upon the
Behring Rookeries.

WASHINGTON, August 29.-"We got
the hot end of the stock" remarked
Captain Evans, the naval secretary of
the Lighthouse Board, to-day, con-
corning the recent decision of the
Behring sea arbitration board. Captain
Evans spent several years in the Arctic
ocean lodging icebergs and catching
poachers, and is as familiar with the by
ways of that sea as the husbandman is
with the paths in his garden.
Son every contention" continued
Captain Evans, "the United States was
beaten with the single exception of the
forbidding the use of firearms in captur-
ing seals, and on this point the regula
tons prescribed are impracticable.
The sixtymile limit is entirely vaueless
from practical point of view. The
region around the Pribylov islands is
constantly overhung with dense fog,
making accurate observations almost
Impossible.
eve will be continually in dispute as
to whether, in case seizure is made
for violating the regulations, the dis
lance is sixty, seventy or forty miles
from the islands. The entire navy of
the United States, with the English
navy thrown in, could not establish an
effective patrol about these islands.
The poachers, which are usually light
crafts, could easily slip through the
marine patrol, attack the seals on the
islands, and in the dense fogs escape
without detection. Even if seen raid
ing the seal rookeries, the war ships
could not pursue them close to the
reef-infested islands, as the waters are
unsurveyed and currents unknown, and
the risks, therefore, would be entirely
too great to be undertaken.
"The most effective means, perhaps,
of protecting the seals would be large
land force, sufficiently strong to repeI
lany ordinary attack.
| "Vlewed in any light, we can get
little comfort out of the decision. The
permission to kill seals after August Isl
amounts to nothing, as the seals in thai
season are in what is called STACEY
condition, and the skins are unfit foi
commercial use. No one ever kills
them then unless in pure malice.
even the restriction as regards the
use of firearms is of little value. A
vessel clears, say for hunting purposes,
to the North Arctic. Her equipments
consist of implements for whale and
seal fishing, including limited num-
Der of guns for shooting wild fowl in
the extreme north. She is boarded by
a United States man-of-war, whose
right is doubtful at best. The firearms
are found, and then comes the con-
tention, whether the vessel intended to
use the arms for capturing seals or for
killing fowl for food.
THUS We will be in hot water all the
time. Then, again, the decision of the
Boring Sea Commission affects only
British and American vessels. Having
declared Boring sea to be an open sea,
the vessels of all nations are, of course,
entitled to plough its waters and catch
fish and seals at will.
"The Boring sea decision cannot, of
course, bind the Governments of
France, Germany, Japan and other
nations engaged in whale and seal fish
cries. If annexation should be de-
Iayed Hawaii might try her hand. So
that, looking at it from a practical
point of view, it seems that the regula-
items are impracticable and cannot
be enforced at less expense than $1,000
for every seals life preserved"