Hickory daily record., 1922-11-08
TREATY To
PROTECT! SEA-
1InH1H II f. sss71s9af5s
AN|IrInLS

San Francisco, Nov. 7.-Fifty wears
ago "Hme-juicer," as the big square
rugged sailing vessel Of that time was
called, would have to shorten sail and
steer a careful course along the South
Pacific coast at certain seasons if
it wanted to avoid destructive coIli- 1
sions with the California grayback 4
whale. And if the skipper trained his
glass along the coast line, he prob l
ably would see every exposed rock
or seaward shoal black with elephant
and fur seals. Closer in he would I
note great tortoises and sea turtles. {
while above would wheel the Heer-
mann gull.
been loosed on these sea crea lures,
some Of them termed by scientists to
be "the biggest animals in the world,'t
in the last half century, that there
is campaign on today to have the |
state department negotiate treaties /
with all countries bordering on the !
Pacific to prevent their absolute ey-
termination.
One of the great mammals, Steller's
| sea COW. already has Joined the Great
AUX, the Dodo and other storied crea-
lures Of dead age. In 1741. when The
exploring ship Of Captain Vitus Rer-
ing was wrecked on the island that
bears his name, the. great sluggish
sea sows were found floundering
about by DR.. George William Steller,
docter- of the expedition. Large herds
later were seen feeding on the kelp
and seaweed around the nearby Com
mander islands, and it soon was
found that their meat made ar excel
lent human food.
When the news of the discovery of
Bering Island was made known to
the world several expeditions were
fitted out to hunt sthe sea COW. How
we'll they succeeded is attested in the
fact that by 1854. only l3 years after
its discovery, this great animal. "a
to 30 feet long and weighing three
or four tons when fully grown, dis
appeared from the ocean. Moved by
the walrus, the elephant seal, the
sea otter and the southern whale.
= the committee on conservation Of
Marine Life cf the Pacific, part
of the American Association for the
advancement OF science has started
the campaign to have the state de-
partment act.
One hundred years ago, the commit
tee points out, a species Of fur seal
had extensive breeding rookeries on
the Farallon Islands and other islands
on the coast line of California and
Mexico More than 2G00CO of these
seal were killed in short period be-.
tween 1903 and 1871 on the Farallons
alone while thousands Of others v'e7.e
added to the slaughter on the channel
islands to the southwark, This cam
paign virtually exterminated this
species Of seal. -
Further objections to the wholeFale'
determination Of whales have been
raised by the sardine fishermen Of
Monterey Bav, California, who claim
that the whales herd the sardines in
shore. Recently the examination Of
the stomach Of humpback whale
ing station in Monterey Bay yielded
from 1900 to 5000 rounds of sardi-
nes. In the stomach of sperm whale
was found ten foot shark.
Due to the failure of the United
States and Great Britain to include
Japan in the treaty Of 1897 forbidding
the killing of seals in the open sea,
the Alaska fur seal herd was decreas-
ed by nearly 100000 from 1897 to
1911, according to scientific data. A
new fur seal treaty was negotiated
in 1911, the participating countries
being the United States, Great Britain
Russia and Japan. Since the time that
treaty was made the herd has increas-
ed by nearly 100000. So grehat has
the increase been that there is a
suspicion that pelagio or ocean sealing
, is again going on against the strict
ruling of the gurdian nations. It is
pointed out that any nation not siga-
tory to the treaty may engage III
this sort of sealing among the Alaska
herd and exterminate it in time If
! new treaties are not drawn UP.
4 Under the treaty of 1911 the Indi-
ans of. California, Oregan, Washing
ton. British Columbia, and aboi.igines
Of Japan and Russia are permitted to
i both along the coast lines and in the
ocean, and it is proposed to regulate
n thic o1c0