Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-12-25
PROTECTION SOUGHT
FOR SEA CREATURES
ON WESTERN C0AS!
Ruthless Killing Depicting All
Glasses of Ocean In
hahitants.

San Francisco.-Correspondence Of
ago q ''lime-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 ar certain seasons if it
wanted TO avoid destructive collisions
with the California grayback whale.
And if the skipper trained his glass
along the coast line. he probably would
see every exposed rock or seward
seals. @CIoser In he would note great
tortoises and sea turtles. while above
would wheel the Hermann gull.
Such an orgy of destruction has been
loosed on these sea creatures, some
of them termed by scientists to be
the biggest animals in the world. in
the last half century. that there is Il
campaign on today to have the state
department negotiate treaties with all
countries bordering on the Pacific to
prevent their absolute determination.
One of the great mammals, Stellers
sea cow, already has joined the great
aux, of dodo and other storied crea-
lures of a dead age. In 1141. when
the exploring ship of Captain Vitus
Boring was wrecked on the island that
bears his name. the great. sluggish sea
cows were found floundering about by
DR.. George William Steller. doctor of
the expedition. Large herds later We're
seen feeding on the keip and seaweed
around the nearby Commander islands
and it was seon found that their meat
made an excellent human food.
W., 4h1 awe ~ fhn l,Ca.-n~u nj
Boring island was made known to the
world. several expeditions We're fitted
out TO hunt the sea COW. How well
they succeeded is attested in the fact
that by 1864. only Is years after its
discovery. this great animal. n to 30
feet long ans weighing three or four
tons when fully grown. disappeared
from the ocean. Moved by the near
ness Of a similar fate for the wairus.
the elephant seal. the sea otter and
the southern whales. the committee on
conservation of marine life of the
Pacific. a part of the American associa-
ton for the advancement of science
has started the campaign to have the
state department act.
One hundred years ago.. the com
mittee 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 100000 Of these
seal were killed in the short beriod be-
tween 1908 and 1911 on the Farallons
alone, while thousands of others were
added to the slaughter on the channel
islands to the southwark. This cam
paign virtually exterminated this spe-
cies of seal.
Further objections to the wholesale
determination Of whales have been
raised by the sardine fishermen of
Monterey bay, California, who claim
that the whales herd the sardines in
shore. Recently the examination of
the stomach of a huupback whale
brought into the Moss Landing whaling
station in Monterey bay. yielded from
I.500 to 5000 pounds of sardines. In
the stomach of a sperm whale was
found a 10-foot shark.
Due to the failure of the United
States and Great Britain to include
Japan i'll the treaty of 1879 forbidding
the killing of seals in the open sea,
the Alaska fur seal herd was decreased
by nearly 300.0 600 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 anl
Japan. Since the time that treaty was
made the herd has increased by nearly
100000. So great has the increase
been there is a suspicion that pelagio
or ocean sealing is again going on
against the strict ruling of the guard
ian nations. 1t is pointed out that any
nation not signatory to the treaty may
engage in this sort of sealing among
the Alaska herd, and exterminate it in
TINA IL sp,ur franfjn4. ire MT ipay-y1 mn
Under the treaty of 1911 the Indians
of California. Oregon, Washington.
British Columbia. and a~horiginies IF
Japan and Russia are permitted to
both along the coast lines and in the
ocean. and it is proposed to regulate
this also.