THE COMING DOOM OF THE SEALS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7202, 13 September 1901, Page 2

THE COMING DOOM OF THE SEALS.

A WANING INDUSTRY. According to a writer in the current number of " Munsey's Magazine," there is not the slightest doubt that the seal will be practically extinct in a few years. Notwithstanding the protective measures, it is decreasing -with alarming rapidity. One cause, no doubt, is the pelagio seali n g._t_at is, the talking of eeals itt the open seas. If we axe to believe all tha* ■has been written on the subject, the term " pelagic " covers a multitude t>f crimes. The pefcgic sealers kill the animals with guns, spears, or any effective weapon while they are in the water. It is impossible to distinguish bull, cow, and bachelor sealis in the waiter, so that these hunters kill the animals firsb and examine them afterwards. All manner of evil names are given to the pelagic sealers, and international conferences 'have been held with the avowed object of suppressing 'them. Under an international agreemient, it is pow 'forbidden . io kill seaJs within a zone of sixty miles of tie Pribyloff Islands. Bub the poachers and the pelagic sealers are not wholly responsible -for the rapid decrease in the number of seals. The seal pups are subject to a disease which, in some seasons kills thousands of them, though there are those who attribute the mortality to the slaughter of cow eeals by poachers rather than to the ravages of an epidemic. In any case, the Pribyloff herd is steadily growing smaller.