Almost a million skins were taken on the high 

 seas from 1879 to 1909, and many of the seals 

 shot or speared in the open sea were not re- 

 covered. Because females comprised 60 to 80 

 percent of the pelagic catch, the effect on the 

 Alaska herd was disastrous. In 1912, when the 

 first complete census was taken, 215,900 seals 

 were counted or estimated. Although scientists 

 believe this estimate was too low, a severe reduction 

 in the Pribilof herd had undoubtedly taken place, 

 and the two smaller herds off the Asian coast 

 were faced with extinction. 



After extended diplomatic negotiations and a 

 long series of ineffectual bilateral agreements, the 

 United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Russia 

 concluded a Convention on 7 July 1911, for the 

 protection of the fur seals of the North Pacific. 

 Pelagic sealing was prohibited except by abor- 

 igines using primitive weapons. Each country 

 owning fur seal rookeries agreed to share 30 per- 

 cent of its annual take of sealskins — Canada and 

 Japan each to receive 15 percent of the sealskins 

 from the Pribilof Islands and 15 percent of those 

 from the Commander Islands; and Canada, 

 Russia, and the United States each to re- 

 ceive 10 percent of the pelts from Robben 

 Island. 



The Convention of 1911 provided for the first 

 time a sound basis for the management of the 

 North Pacific fur seals. It remained in force 

 for 30 years, until terminated by Japan on 23 

 October 1941. From 1942 to 1957 the Pribilof 

 herd was protected by a provisional agreement 

 between Canada and the United States, which 

 reserved to Canada 20 percent of the skins taken 

 each summer on the Pribilof Islands. 



On 9 February 1957, a new interim North 

 Pacific Fur Seal Convention was concluded by 

 Canada, Japan, the Union of Soviet Socialist 

 Republics, and the United States, similar in form 

 to the 1911 Convention. The present Convention 

 provides in principle that Canada and Japan 

 each shall receive 15 percent of the sealskins 

 taken commercially by the United States and by 

 the U.S.S.R. 



Under international protection and a rational 

 management program, the Alaska fur seal herd 

 has increased from the low point of about 216,- 

 000 animals in 1912 to its present level of over 

 1% million animals. From 1940 to 1962 the 

 herd has sustained an average yield of 62,300 

 male sealskins. Since 1956, the annual kill of 

 female seals has averaged 32,300. 



Distribution and Movements of Seals 



The northern fur seal, an abundant and widely 

 ranging mammal, is seldom observed alive except 

 by fishermen and seamen working offshore or 

 by visitors to the Alaskan and Asian islands 

 where the seals breed. Every winter beach- 

 combers find fur seal carcasses, mostly pups of 

 the previous summer, on beaches from the Alaska 

 Peninsula south to northern Oregon. Few young 

 seals migrate south of Oregon in winter. 



Originally the fur seals that breed on the Pri- 

 bilof Islands, on the Commander Islands, and on 



Robben Island and some of the Kurile Islands' 

 were described as three separate species because 

 of supposed differences in color and in shape 

 of head and neck. They have since been found 

 to be indistinguishable by physical appearance 

 and measurements; their wintering grounds over- 

 lap; and tagged seals, especially young males, 

 are regularly found in small numbers on rookery 

 islands other than where born. Therefore, the 

 fur seals of the North Pacific are now considered 

 to belong to a single species, Callorhinus ursinus. 



1 Pribilof Islands are U. S. territory; Commander, Robben, 

 and Kurile Islands are under the administration of the U.S.S.R, 



