Salt Lake Telegram | 1925-10-04 | Page 28 | Puget Sound Seals Menace Fish Industry

PUGET SOUND SEALS MENACE FISH INDUSTRY OLYMPIA Wash Oct 3 AP API AP- AP Hair seals have increased In recent years to such numbers that they are I becoming a serious menace to the salmon fishing industry in the northwest As a means of or getting rid of the menace Arthur S S. S Elnar- Elnar sen formerly with the Washington state fisheries department has suggested suggested sug sug- that the aid of American sportsmen be enlisted In a drive against the animals Sportsmen he d declares clares would find seal hunting huntIng huntIng hunt- hunt Ing a game worthy of their skill and andone andone one which one whIch them to fill flU fillin fillin in July and August when th the season sea Seo son on big game is closed In most localities Ues Puget Sound Indians formerly hunted the seals for tor food and material material ma ma- for moccasins and since the white man makes no use bf bt them whatever the seals consequently have greatly increased since the disappearance nce of or the Indians Indans In a a. rec recent nt check Mr Einarsen reports hat he counted of the hair hall seals sunning themselves on the beaches at low tide Ude Rookeries In Invariably invariably in- in variably are established at the mouths of salmon streams and the seals take heavy heavy toll of this food tood fish Feeding tests tests have shown that an adult seal required about thirty thirty- pounds of fish for a meal At pres present nt the only checks on the increase increase of the seals are the operations oper oper- lons of the few fow professional hunters hunters hunters hunt hunt- ers who pursue them for the 3 3 bounty offered by the state and the tha occasional forays of ot local sportsmen sportsmen sports sports- men In view of ot these facts unless the state wishes to subsidize the exter ruination the most logical solution of ot the problem lies in so soliciting the aid of Interested sportsmen Mr Einarsen n declared rh The sport is a aI avery avery very keen one and r requires skill and I returns a. a greater r thrill than any any- Y l thing we have with the exception of bi big game hunting The seal Is Isa isa isa a sagacious animal and persecution leads eads to extreme wariness on their part The fact that there Is such an in element of chance in seal hunting huntIng huntIng hunt- hunt Ing discourages any great effort to to exterminate them by professional seal hunters While the original method of hunting seals was to approach them from the shore at low tide Ude and shoot them with a heavy rifle dUe of ot buckshot buckshot buck- buck shot the use of a speed semi-speed boat by ay sportsmen has hes added zest to the f I chase I