Marine Resources Management— Thompson 287 



menced immediately, and some two million seals were killed 

 for their fur in the next 40 years. A crisis was reached in 1835, 

 and Russia imposed severe restrictive measures including pro- 

 tection of all females. The herd responded to this protection, 

 and at the time of the Alaska purchase in 1867 it was reported 

 to have been restored fully. 



Exploitation under American ownership was almost as devas- 

 tating as under the early Russian operations, not because of 

 indiscriminate land killing but because of the highly wasteful 

 and objectionable practice of killing seals at sea irrespective of 

 season, sex, or condition. Pelagic sealing, as this was called, 

 drew heavily on the females which were not killed on land. The 

 sealing fleet followed the seals on their ocean migration from 

 the California coast northward to Bering Sea, taking its toll 

 throughout that 3,000 mile range. Decimation of the herd was 

 inevitable, and by 1910 only 130,000 animals remained. Exter- 

 mination of this resource was not far away when by interna- 

 tional convention signed in 1911, the United States, Great 

 Britain, Japan, and Russia agreed to prevent pelagic sealing 

 in the North Pacific Ocean by their own nationals. This treaty 

 remained in effect until 1941 and protected the fur seals of 

 Japan's Robben Island and Russia's Commander Islands, as 

 well as those of the Pribilofs. At present a treaty between the 

 United States and Canada protects the Pribilof herd from 

 pelagic sealing. 



No mammal in the wild state lends itself more conveniently 

 to rational exploitation than the fur seal. It is a highly polyga- 

 mous animal with harems numbering 40 to 60 cows, yet the 

 sexes are born in equal numbers. There is, therefore, a large 

 surplus of males which can be removed without disturbing the 

 breeding potential of the herd. Conveniently, the immature 

 males not only haul out at the Pribilofs, but they haul out apart 

 from the breeding animals. Killing is restricted to males of only 

 one age— 3-year-olds. The fur is prime on these animals and 

 the skins are unscarred by the fighting that occurs among the 

 older animals. The Pribilof fur-seal herd has been cropped 

 in this way, and in recent years the take has fluctuated between 



