Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-11
STATISTICS ON THE SEALS
A Two Hours Session of the Experts
Today.
They Fail to Agree ms to the Ultimate
Eject of Continued Pelagic
Sealing.

Today's conference of the seal experts of
Great Britain, Canada and the United
States began at IL o'clock this morning.
with full representation Of the British.
Canadian and American officials. For the
first time the statistics of the catch of seals
for the present year was available. These
were compiled by the American officials.
and brought out prominently two features,
which were regarded as most important in
supporting the American contention, name
ly, that the catch had fallen off about one
half during the present season, showing
conclusively, in the opinion of the American
experts, that the seal herd was being rap
idly wiped out; and, second, that the catch
of seals from the American islands in
Bering sea was about ID to 1 as between
the Canadian sealers under the British flag
and American sealers. The same proper
ton was shown to exist throughout the
waters of the North Pacific. In detail the
figures for this seasons catch, now made
available for the first time, are as follows:
Catch Falling OF.
Total eaten of seals in the North Pacific
for the present ssea son, IS, 7OC, against I3,-
600 last year. The total catch this year
is divided as follows: Taken by British ves
sells. 3O,SO; by American vessels, 4,1OO, by
japanese vessels, $3.50. The catch in Ber-
Pacific in which the United States is in
terested, is 1860 for the present season,
against $500 last season, reduction OF
about one-half. OF the catch In Berlng
sea, British vessels took 15,iD0; American
vessels, 1859. The figures make no dis
tinction between British ard Canadian YES
sels as practically all the sealing Is done
by Canadian vessels, which, however, are
nominaliy ciassed as British.
The falling off of about one-half In the
total catch. both In the Ber:ng sea and tie
North Pacific, is said to be most signiii-
cant in view of the circumstances The
present season is a better one, the experts
say, for the taking of seals than last sea-
son. The same regulations apply this sea-
son last. Under these circumstances 1t
is said that the conclusion to be drawn
from this years figures is that the seal
herd has been greatly reduced by indis-
crirlinate slaughter al the alarming rate
of about one-half in the last year.
Disagreement of Experts.
The session lasted about two hours and
was behind closed doors. In addition to
the four experts there were present Mr..
Adams of the British embassy, Sir Wilfrid
Laurier and Sir Louis Davies of the Cana
dian ministry. and Mr.. Foster, the United
States commissioner Mr.. Hamlin, one of
the American experts. acted as chairman
1t was officially stated that the proceed
ingS were secret in the sense that notniCS
would be given ont for publication before
the close of the deliberations AMI not even
at that time unless it was deemed expe-
dient.
Although not officially verified 1t is re-
ported that the proceedings nave already
shown that the experts of the three coun-
tries represented do not entirely agree on
the important point at issue as % the
ultimate effect of a continuance of pelagic
sealing under the regulations prescribed by
the Paris tribunal IF arbitration, and that
there may be more difficulty than was
anticipated in inducing Ireat Britain to
become party to the agreement entered
into between the United States, Russia and
Japan for suspension of pela3ic scaling.
1t is now disclosed that that agreement
merely provides for a suspension of pela-
gic sealing by the countries named for one
year. Inasmuch as an agreement on the
part Of Great Britain to suspend pelagic
sealing would practically destroy the in
dustry of the Canadian sealers it is argued
that 1t is not likely to be made without i'm
pcrtant concessions in another direction.
This phase Of the matter may explain the
great interest shown in the conference by
the Canadian premier and minister of ma
rine and fisheries.
In case of a satisfactory arrangement in
regard to the sealing question negotiations
will undoubtedly be opened for reciprocal
agreements in the matter of trade be-
tween the two countries and also in regard
to mining in the Klondike region.