155.  In  view  of  the  actual  condition  of  seal  life  as  it  presents  itself  to  us  at  the
present  time,  we  believe  that  the  requisite  degree  of  protection  would  be  afforded  by
the  application  of  the  following  specific  limitations  at  shore  and  at  sea:

(a)  The  maximum  number  of  seals  to  be  taken  on  the  Fribilof  Islands  to  be  fixed
at  50,000.
(&)  A  zone  of  protected  waters  to  be  established,  extending  to  a  distance  of  20
nautical  miles  from  the  islands.
(c)  A  close  season  to  be  provided,  extending  from  the  15th  of  September  to  the  1st
of  May  in  each  year,  during  which  all  killing  of  seals  shall  be  prohibited,  with  the
additional  provision  that  no  sealing  vessel  shall  enter  Bering  Sea  before  the  1st  of
July  in  each  year.
156.  Respecting  the  compensatory  feature  of  such  specific  regulations,  it  is  believed
that  a  just  scale  of  equivalency  as  between  shore  and  sea  sealing  would  be  found,
and  a  complete  check  established  against  any  undue  diminution  of  seals,  by  adopting
the  following  as  a  unit  of  compensatory  regulation:

For  each  decrease  of  10,000  in  the  number  h'xed  for  killing  on  the  islands,  an
increase  of  10  nautical  miles  to  be  given  to  the  width  of  protected  waters  about  the
islands.  The  minimum  number  to  be  fixed  for  killing  on  the  islands  to  be  10,000,
corresponding  to  a  maximum  width  of  protected  waters  of  60  nautical  miles.
157.  The  above  regulations  represent  measures  at  sea  and  ashore  sufficiently  equiv-
alent for  all  practical  purposes,  and  probably  embody  or  provide  for  regulations  as
applied  to  sealing  on  the  high  seas  as  stringent  as  would  be  admitted  by  any  mari-
time power,  whether  directly  or  only  potentially  interested.
