THE COSTLY SEALSKIN.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 143586, 26 August 1911, Page 5

THE COSTLY SEALSKIN.

HOW IT IS OBTAINED

■ “Very large numbers of people who do not usually feel much concern about higli politics will rejoice at the arrangement virtually concluded by the Pelagic Sealing' Conference, which has been sitting at Washington,” says the London Times. “The representatives of Great Britain, Japan, Russia, and. the United States have agreed that pelagic sealing is to he suspended for 15 years. That mans that one of the most beautiful and most intelligent of living creatures is to be saved from imminent danger of extirpation. THE EVILS OF PELAGIC SEALING-, “The Powers represented at Washington * took the common-sense view' of the situation. They recognised that the preservation of the seal is in the interest of them all, and that he cannot be preserved if pelagic sealing continues. It is both wasteful and cruel. It means the slaughter of large numbers of cows, which involves the starvation of their calves, and the loss of the animals that sink or get away wounded.

“Perhaps there is no more striking instance of man’s nithlessness in the pursuit of gain than this system of sealing. It accounts for the reduction of the herd from about 2,000,000 in 1882, when pelagic sealing on a jarge scale was just beginning, to. 185,000. As the seals have become scarcer the prices have risen and the slaughter been stimulated. To break this vicious circle is now the aim of the International Conference.

“Pelagic sealing came into vogue in the 80’s; in 1881 10,000 skins were taken by this means; in 1894, 62,000; and if the catch has decreased since then it is a fact that since 1890 the pelagic sealer has secured twice as many skins as have been secured on land. The sealers fire at the seals from small boats, making no distinction between mates and females; some are killed and sink immediately, others are fatally wounded but escape before they die. It is stated that for each skin taken probably four seals are killed and lost. Moreover, since the female seal on her way to and from the feeding ground is the favourite prey, it follows that 80 per cent, of the whole pelagic catch are females. These not only have nursing calves ashore, which are left to die of starvation, but are themselves pregnant, the period of pregnancy beginning soon after tlie birth of the calf and lasting until the following spring. Thus three lives are destroyed for every .female killed. After this it may well be believed that the pelagic catch of 27,216 skins in 1907 represented a loss to the herd of upwards :of 75,()00 animals. WHERE SEALS ARE FOUND.

“The sole remaining strongholds of' the Northern fur-seal are the Pribiloff and Commander Islands, the former American, the latter Russian, in the Behring Sea. Bobbin' Island—once Russian but now Japanese—used to possess largo rookeries, while others in the Kuril Archipelago belonged to Japan; ruthless slaughter has almost wiped out these herds, though the remnants which remain may yet be nursed back to health ■ under, Clovernment protection. Of the Commander and Pribiloff herds the latter is still the largest in the world. “There lias always been a strong temptation to poaching and illegal fishing in the seal industry. To prevent practices of this kind the Conference recommends What is probably the only remedy likely to prove effectual—namely, the exclusion from the markets of the contracting parties of all skins whose origin is unknown.”