sites were first discovered. Prior to the purchase of Alaska 

 from Russia in 1867, the harvest of fur seals on the breeding 

 islands was conducted and regulated by companies chartered by 

 the Russian czar. Excessive harvesting prior to 1805 caused 

 a substantial population decline and the harvest was halted 

 in 1806-1807 to allow the population to rebuild. In subsequent 

 years, quotas and other measures to protect the breeding 

 stock were implemented. In 1847, the harvest of females was 

 prohibited. This ban lasted until 1956 when an experimental 

 harvest of female fur seals was begun on the Pribilof Islands. 



In 1870, following its purchase of Alaska, the United 

 States granted a U.S. company, the Alaska Commercial Company, 

 exclusive sealing rights on the Pribilof s. About the same 

 time, nationals from several countries began a pelagic harvest 

 of fur seals on a commercial scale. Harvesting was carried 

 out both on land and at sea until 1911, when pelagic harvesting 

 was prohibited under terms of the Fur Seal Treaty. During 

 the preceding four decades, the pelagic take, which included 

 both sexes and all age classes, equaled or exceeded the on-land 

 take and this resulted in a substantial population decline. 



The prohibition on pelagic sealing instituted by the Fur 

 Seal Treaty of 1911, combined with careful regulation of the 

 on-land harvest, resulted in rapid growth and recovery of the 

 North Pacific fur seal herd in the early 1900s. Japan believed 

 that the increased fur seal herd was adversely affecting its 

 fisheries and, in 1926 and again in 1936, it proposed modifying 

 the 1911 Treaty to permit resumption of pelagic sealing. In 

 1940, Japan notified the other members that it was withdrawing 

 from the Treaty and, in 1941, the Treaty expired. 



From 1941 to 1957, fur seal harvests on the Pribilof 

 Islands were governed by a provisional agreement between the 

 United States and Canada. In 1957, the Governments of Canada, 

 Japan, the Soviet Union, and the United States concluded an 

 Interim Convention on Conservation of North Pacific Fur Seals. 

 The purposes of the Convention were to determine and bring 

 North Pacific fur seal herd to the level that would provide 

 the greatest annual yield. The agreement prohibited pelagic 

 sealing, established a commission to formulate and coordinate 

 research programs and other actions necessary to achieve 

 Convention objectives, and provided that Canada and Japan 

 would each receive 15 percent of the seal skins taken by the 

 Soviet Union and the United States on islands under their 

 jurisdiction. 



The effective period of the Interim Convention was extended 

 by a series of Protocols adopted in 1963, 1969, 1976, and 

 1981. In October 1984, representatives of the four countries 

 signed a Protocol to extend the Convention through October 

 1988. The Governments of Canada, Japan, and the Soviet Union 



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