carried out by the ACC and amounted to approximately 25,000 animals per year.
Towards the end of the 20-year lease, the ACC no longer obtained a renewal.
Instead, the lease was given to the North American Commercial Company, which
hunted around 17,300 seals per year, thus significantly less than the ACC. In 1910,
however, the leasing system was abandoned.
Despite this exclusively domestic regulation, a clear international development in
regard to sealing took place in the Bering Sea. Throughout the 1880s, the US
increased its enforcement in Alaskan waters. After all, pelagic sealing was continuously on the increase and throughout the 1890s would increase to a staggering
42,000 seals per year. These hunts, however, were not conducted by licensed
companies, but carried out by vessels from Great Britain, Russia, Japan, Germany,
Norway, France and Sweden. In 1887, armed customs vessels seized an American
and a Canadian (British) ship for illegally hunting seals in Alaskan waters. After
long negotiations, both the governments of the United States and of Great Britain
agreed in 1891 to prohibit vessels sailing under their respective flags to hunt seals in
the Bering Sea altogether for the period of 1 year. This is commonly referred to as the
modus vivendi in the Bering Sea seal hunts, given that no official document or treaty
exists that clearly lays out this prohibition.
Despite the existence of the modus vivendi, the issue of the ships seized by US
Customs had still not been resolved. Although the negotiations for an extension of
the modus vivendi were ongoing, an arbitration procedure concerning the seized
vessels before the Court of Arbitration, which was launched in 1892 and concluded
1 year later in Paris, superseded any subsequent modus vivendi. The Award Between
The United States and the United Kingdom Relating to the Rights of Jurisdiction of
United States in the Bering’s Sea and the Preservation Of Fur Seals (Arbitration
Treaty) was concluded on 15 August 1893.
1 This treaty established a sanctuary of
60 nautical miles (approximately 111 km) around the Pribilof Islands and therefore
constituted a direct challenge to US sovereignty within its own territory. Contrary to
the Jan Mayen Treaty, this bilateral international agreement had a direct effect on the
way the US was entitled to regulate sealing activities in US waters. Following
previous regulatory practice, the Arbitration Treaty furthermore established that
despite these provisions the native population was still allowed to hunt seals
provided their products were not used for commercial purposes.
Since the Arbitration Treaty was a matter between the United States and Great
Britain, other countries, such as Russia or Japan, which were also engaging in
sealing in the Bering Sea, but that were not part of the process of arbitration, were
not obligated to follow it. While, therefore, US and British pelagic sealing takes went
down, other countries intensified their efforts significantly, prompting the United
States to convene an International Fur Seal Conference in 1897, which was attended
by the US, Russia and Japan. There, the Convention for the Preservation of the Fur
1 Award Between The United States and the United Kingdom Relating to the Rights of Jurisdiction
of United States in the Bering’s Sea and the Preservation Of Fur Seals, 15 August 1893.
6.2 The Nineteenth Century
129
Towards the end of the 20-year lease, the ACC no longer obtained a renewal.
Instead, the lease was given to the North American Commercial Company, which
hunted around 17,300 seals per year, thus significantly less than the ACC. In 1910,
however, the leasing system was abandoned.
Despite this exclusively domestic regulation, a clear international development in
regard to sealing took place in the Bering Sea. Throughout the 1880s, the US
increased its enforcement in Alaskan waters. After all, pelagic sealing was continuously on the increase and throughout the 1890s would increase to a staggering
42,000 seals per year. These hunts, however, were not conducted by licensed
companies, but carried out by vessels from Great Britain, Russia, Japan, Germany,
Norway, France and Sweden. In 1887, armed customs vessels seized an American
and a Canadian (British) ship for illegally hunting seals in Alaskan waters. After
long negotiations, both the governments of the United States and of Great Britain
agreed in 1891 to prohibit vessels sailing under their respective flags to hunt seals in
the Bering Sea altogether for the period of 1 year. This is commonly referred to as the
modus vivendi in the Bering Sea seal hunts, given that no official document or treaty
exists that clearly lays out this prohibition.
Despite the existence of the modus vivendi, the issue of the ships seized by US
Customs had still not been resolved. Although the negotiations for an extension of
the modus vivendi were ongoing, an arbitration procedure concerning the seized
vessels before the Court of Arbitration, which was launched in 1892 and concluded
1 year later in Paris, superseded any subsequent modus vivendi. The Award Between
The United States and the United Kingdom Relating to the Rights of Jurisdiction of
United States in the Bering’s Sea and the Preservation Of Fur Seals (Arbitration
Treaty) was concluded on 15 August 1893.
1 This treaty established a sanctuary of
60 nautical miles (approximately 111 km) around the Pribilof Islands and therefore
constituted a direct challenge to US sovereignty within its own territory. Contrary to
the Jan Mayen Treaty, this bilateral international agreement had a direct effect on the
way the US was entitled to regulate sealing activities in US waters. Following
previous regulatory practice, the Arbitration Treaty furthermore established that
despite these provisions the native population was still allowed to hunt seals
provided their products were not used for commercial purposes.
Since the Arbitration Treaty was a matter between the United States and Great
Britain, other countries, such as Russia or Japan, which were also engaging in
sealing in the Bering Sea, but that were not part of the process of arbitration, were
not obligated to follow it. While, therefore, US and British pelagic sealing takes went
down, other countries intensified their efforts significantly, prompting the United
States to convene an International Fur Seal Conference in 1897, which was attended
by the US, Russia and Japan. There, the Convention for the Preservation of the Fur
1 Award Between The United States and the United Kingdom Relating to the Rights of Jurisdiction
of United States in the Bering’s Sea and the Preservation Of Fur Seals, 15 August 1893.
6.2 The Nineteenth Century
129