The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1895-10-12
SLATHERS OF SEALSKINS
Last Seasons Catch the Largest
on Record.
Notwithstanding the Rigid Restrictions
eaoverntng the sealers They Secured
Q Rich Harvest = Indian
uuntors EmpAoyod.

state department summary OF the re-
port on the seal catch of 1894, prepared
bv A. r. Milne, collector Of customs at
Victoria.
The catch was the biggest ever made
in single year. The total Canadian7
catch was o4,474, little over 10000
more than the catch of 1898. The num-
be of vessels employed was fafty-nine,
four more than went out the year be-
fore. The crews contained in all 1,406
men, of whom 51S were Indians. The
canoe catch by Indians alone amounted
to 3,089.
A good many people have wondered
whether or not the seal herd Is in da;l-
ger of extinction if operations are con-
tinued under the regulations at present
existing. Mr.. Milne says that the pro-
portion of males is much larger than
Americans have contended it would be.
Pelagic sealing, they held, was dispro-
portionately fatal to the females.
But although 97,474 seals were re-
ported by the captains of the sealing
feet as having been killed during the
season, the sex of only %, ,341 was given.
Many of the captains ignored this point
altogether. OF this number, however,
as many as II ,7O5 were females and A.
$50 were males, and thecollector had to
base his favorable opinion on these
very imperfect returns
At the beginning of the season It was
generally feared that the hunters
would be seriously handicapped by the
new regulations forbidding the use
OF firearms and prescribing the use Of
the spear in taking the seal. But, un-
fortunately for the seal, the fear has
been overcome. On account of it the
vessels went on their voyages with a
larger proportion Of Indian hunters on
board than the year before, because the
Indians were known to be more expert
in the use of the spear than the whites.
But before the end Of the season the
white hunters had become fully as
skillful as the Indians
All the Canadian sealers were vessels
of very small tonnage, the largest, the
Favorite. registering 1s0 tons, and the
smallest, the Annie C. Moore, only
thirteen tons. The Favorite got 1,S46
seals and the Annie C. Moore 2,256.
TheTriumph, of ninety-eight tons, Sc
cured the biggest catch-4, 500. The
average tonnage was sixty-six, and the
average crew about twenty-four.
Most of the seals were caught OF the
Japanese coasts, 1903, against 29,2o3
the year before. The British Columbia
coast catch was less than half of what
it was in 1898. The report states that
in Behring sea the catch was made out
side the sixty-mile protected zone,
operations being carried on from the
list of August to the middle Of Septem-
Der.
On the Japanese coast scaling COM
menced at about latitude 50 degrees,
and continued north. There were none
of the interruptions usual of late years
experienced by those who operated in
territory adjacent to Russian waters,
the vessels all keeping well outside the
thirty-mile zone, mainly operating about
100 miles southeast of Copper island.
On the British Columbia coast sealing
commenced at about latitude 81 degrees,
thence proceeding northward. The fleet
returned to port early in May, the close
season being then on, and at the end of
July those Of the ships having the
requisite crews of spearsmen set of for
Behring sea to try their luck under the
new law of regulations.
Considering everything, those who
were in position to make the expert
ment with any hope of fair reward did
very well, but, taking the whole feet,
"A = - L.
barren of profits or advantage, except
that of the crews, who were enabled to
make fair wages. OF the total fifty
nine vessels operating, only thirty-two
went into the sea.