Evening star., 1898-01-17
STOP THE PELAGtC SEALING
Cessation Of Killing on Land Will Do No
Good.
Prof. Stejneger Says That Il Would
Probably BE More Injurious Than
Beneficial, and Gives Reasons.

DR.. Leonhard Stejneger of the National
Museum, who was one of the commission
ers to the Russian fur seal islands the past
summer. has made his report. 1t contains
much Of interest regarding his observations
on the islands
In reply to the question "Is a tenn
porary stoppage of killing on land advisa-
ble?'' DR.. Stejneger says:
'The propriety of prohibiting the killing
OF fur seals on land for a period of five
years, as a means of building up the seal
herd, has of late been discussed by the
Russian authorities. The success in for
mer years Of such cessation of killing on
land. or 'zapuska.' as it is called. as we'll
as Its advantage in the management of the
fox and sea otter hunt. has undoubtedly
influenced them; but they have plainly
failed to see the difference between those
old zapuskas. which protected the females
as well as the males. and the zapuska of
the present, the employment of which
would only mean the protection of the
males alone when on land When at sea-
they would be subjected to the same dan
ger from the pelagic hunter as the females
1t shows that they have utterly failed to
grasp the two essential points of the seal
question as 1t stands today, that the de-
cline of the seal herd is solely due to
pelagic sealing. and that the increase and
consequent rehabilitation Of the herd de-
pends solely upon the preservation of the
female seals. If pelagtc sealing be stopped.
n6o nN zapuSka 81 I Us or as shall
II pelagic sealing be continued. a
puska will not only not protect the herd
on shore. but it Will directly result in in
creased catches for the pelagic sealers as
have the additional males to prey upon
which will have been spared on land.
Overwhelming Of Males.
Nov, the future prosperity of the seal
herd depends upon the number of females
it contains: the number of bachelors is
irrelevant in this connection. Suppose pc
lagic sealing be suppressed and a five
years Zapuska instituted on the Com
mander Islands. What would result? At
the end of the five years there would be
exactly as many females as If no zapuska
because no female seals would have been
killed even II the Zapuska had not been
Kept. But there certainly would be
great many more killable seals at the be-
ginning of the sixth year than during any
one of the preceding years. A little re-
Election, however, will show that their
total number must be less than the total
sum of killed ones during these preceding
years. inasmuch as the two to fcur-year-
old bachelors of these years would have
escaped the killing and become sikatchi-
that is, available rookery bulls, and conse-
quently unfit for killing during the "a
rookeries? Copper Island is already over
stocked with bulls to such an extent that
it would greatly benefit the herd to deci-
mate them now: with five years "a
puska the conditions would be infinitely
worse. On BerinE Island there is no over
stocking of males now. but there is MOTH
ing to indicate that there are not enough
bulls and five years prohibition would
bring about the same deplorable condi-
ton as on Copper Island: in fact, the re-
suits would be more disastrous, for the
nature of the rookery beach on Bering Is
land is much less favorable to the pups
in protecting them from being trampled
to death.
ITO sum up, a zapuska as contemplated
would result in no addition of a single fe-
male to the herd, loss in the total number
of killables, highly injurious overstocking
of the rookeres with fighting males and
consequent heavy loss of young pups
killed shortly after birth.
Zapuska without total stoppage of
pelagic sealing would be even more sense
less, as the females would continue to
decrease at a much greater rate than the
males, more females than males being
killed at sea, and the resultant overstock-
ing of the rookeries with bulls would be
even more disproportionate and more dis
astrouS.