130 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
pared with 30,812 in 1893, owing principally to the fact that the mother fur 
seals feed far outside of the protected zone. The vessels followed the herd as 
it moved along the coast in the spring and entered Bering Sea at the end of the 
close season in August, when under the ineffectual regulations they were free to 
use the spear outside the 60-mile zone. The pelagic catch in Bering Sea during 
1894 numbered 31,585, of which over 80 per cent were taken by Canadian vessels. 
The higher value and the greater abundance of fur seals in the Pribilof 
herd had resulted in attracting to it the attention of the pelagic sealers, so that 
previous to 1891 the herd resorting to the Russian islands was relatively free 
from their attention. But the prohibition of fur sealing within the limits agreed 
upon in the modus vivendi of 1891 and in that of 1892 resulted in diverting the 
fleet to the Russian coast, and caused such a destruction in that herd that 
measures of protection were imperative. In 1892 the Russian authorities 
arrested 6 vessels charged with fur sealing within the marine league about 
Copper Island. 
On February 12 (24), 1893, in response to an inquiry from the British 
ambassador, made in behalf of Canadian sealers, as to the limits within which 
they would be permitted to take seals, the Russian minister of foreign affairs 
wrote that the insufficiency of the strict application of general rules of inter- 
national law to this matter was conceded in the negotiations between Great 
Britain, the United States, and Russia in 1888, and that the necessity for excep- 
tional measures had been confirmed by the Anglo-American modus vivendi of 
1891, which had placed Russian interests in an abnormal and exceptional 
position. As a matter of self-defense, for the ensuing season and pending the 
adoption of international regulations, Russia would prohibit sealing within a 
zone of 10 miles on all her Pacific coasts, and within a zone of 30 miles around 
the Commander Islands and Robben Island. Although denying that Russia 
had a right to extend her jurisdiction beyond the usual territorial limits, in 
view of the existing conditions the British Government expressed willingness 
to enter into an agreement with Russia for the enforcement of these protective 
zones. Such an agreement was concluded in May, 1893,” and ar order in council 
was issued on November 21, 1895, to give effect to this arrangement. 
On May 4, 1894, a somewhat similar modus vivendi was concluded between 
the Governments of Russia and the United States. This provided, on the one 
hand, that the United States would prohibit its citizens from taking fur seals 
within a zone of 10 nautical miles along the Russian coasts of Bering Sea and 
of the North Pacific Ocean, as well as within a zone of 30 nautical miles around 
the Commander Islands and Robben Island; and, on the other hand, that the 
Russian Government would limit to 30,000 the number of fur seals to be taken 
during the year 1894 on the same islands. It was agreed that this provisional 
@See Blue Book, “Russia, No. 1, 1893.” 
