The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-07-17
THE FUR SEAL QUESTION.

Some two months ago, the Hon.
John w. Foster, who, it will be
remembered, visited Honolulu last
year, was appointed by President
Mckinley, on a special mission to
Russia, England and Japan, to Sc
cure the cooperation of those gov
ernments in obtaining a moditica-
ton of the regulations established
some years since, by the Paris
tribunal of arbitration, for the pro-
lection of the fur seals in the \ orth
Pacific and Behring Sea islands.
1t has been found that the regula-
tons then adopted proved ineffec-
tual on account of the rowing char
acter of the seals, and particularly
of the females. These animals
have their breeding places on the
Pribyloff Islands in the Behring
Sea, and often 90 very long dis
tances in search of food, which Is
found in certain localities, in the
same way as sperm whales have
their ocean feeding grounds. The
seal hunters follow them, and Oft
en- secure males and females lndls-
criminatelv hundreds of miles from
their home.
The arbitration court fixed sixty
miles from the breeding grounds
as the limit, within which it is
unlawful to kill seals. But as dis
tances at sea are often mere guess,
the hunters pay little regard to
where they are, if only out of sight
of land or of the war vessels that
happen to be cruising around them.
1t is very questionable whether any
regulations prohibiting the killing
of seals within certain months will
prove effectual, as it is now we'll
known that during the cold winter
months, the seals, both male and
female, accompanied by their
young, often migrate to warmer
localities where their food abounds,
and return home when the weather
moderates.
Just what Mr.. Fosters instruc
tons were, has not been made pub
lie. but he succeeded In making a
treaty with Russia, which was
promptly signed. AT the latest
date, he was In London where he
hoped to make a similar treaty
with England and also with Japan,
through the japanese Minister re
sident in England. 1t is under
stood that Sir Julian Paunceforte,
the British Ambassador to Wash
ington who is now in England,
favors the views of the American
Government and may assist in
making a treaty similar to that with
Russia.
1t has been suggested in one of
the fur trade journals, "that the
government prohibit the importa
ton of female skins, and make it |
a misdemeanor to have them in
possession. As radical as this
measure may appear, it would
merely be justice, for as, long as it
is unlawful for an American citi-
zen to catch the female seal it
should be unlawful to handle or
TO expose it for sale"
Another mode has been suggest
ed by President Jordan of Stanford
University, who is one of the Ben
ring Sea Commission, and has Wis
tied the seal islands, and we be-
lieve is now there on a second visit.
His suggestion is given in the fol
lowing. paragraph in the April
number of the Forum: of we
fail to secure a remedy through
mutual agreement with Great
Britain we can ourselves destroy
pelagic sealing by branding the
females and herding the males dur
ing August. Experiments carried
on by us show that the female pups
IAN be branded so as to destroy the
value of the skin, without injury to {
he animal. This is a safe and !