The Sealing Fleet
Early Victorians took advantage of the natural resources of the area,
including the seas teeming with different species. The sealing
industry was well established and driven by the European demand for
seal pelts. In 1889, 32 sealers left Victoria and brought back pelts
valued at $247,170. The entire sealing industry was
Victoria-controlled.
Coincidentally,
sealers' wages were a main source of revenue for hotels, rooming
houses, eating houses, saloon and the retail trade. City ship chandlers
fitted out not only Victoria-based sealers but also those from Nova
Scotia, Newfoundland and U. S. Pacific ports which chased the seals to
Alaska.
The 1901 census listed sealers, the majority of
which were young single men. By 1905, the industry was in decline
largely due to a drop in the price for sealskins in 1897 largely due to
over harvesting. The Americans were alarmed at the drop in the
seal population and took action to decrease the catch. The May 7,
1907 Victoria Daily Colonist reported that the sealing fleet had returned from its coast cruise and noted that the catch was a very low one. There
were only 9 ships with "1,039 skins which at their present value will
be worth about $25,000." The heyday of the sealing industry was over
for Victoria.
When the Americans declared the entire Bering
Sea to be their territorial waters and limited the sealing season, the
Victoria and British vessels could not operate profitably, so left the
majority of the business to the Japanese and Russians. The seals still
continued to decline in numbers as those countries took too many . The
result was the 1911 Pelagic Sealing Treaty where the U. S., Russia, and
Japan agreed to limit hunting and to turn over a share of the sale
proceeds to Canada in return for a complete abstention of Canadian
vessels from sealing.
This Hallmark Society project has been funded by the HBC Foundation and the BC150-Heritage Legacy Fund.
Project manager and researcher: Helen Edwards.
Principal Photography & Consultant:
Ron Bukta, West Ventures Photography.