REPOET OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 59 



authorized by the United States, also enjoy the commercial privi- 

 leges accorded to United States vessels generally, provided that the 

 liberty of fishing and the privilege of trading are not exercised 

 concurrently. 



It is a noteworthy fact that the award on all the weighty matters 

 involved was unanimous, with the exception that one member of the 

 court rendered a dissenting opinion on the fifth question. 



At the request of the Department of State, the deputy commis- 

 sioner and the assistant in charge of the division of fisheries of this 

 Bureau were in attendance at The Hague during the continuance of 

 the arbitration proceedings. 



FUR-SEAL NEGOTIATIONS. 



An international conference was convened in Washington on May 

 5, 1911, for the purpose of concluding a treaty affecting the fur seals 

 of the North Pacific Ocean. The conference was held under tilie 

 auspices of the Department of State and was attended by representa- 

 tives of all the nations having sealing interests in the region named, 

 that is. Great Britain, Russia, Japan, and the United States. The 

 plenipotentiaries on the part of this country were the Secretary of 

 Commerce and Labor and the Counsellor of the Department of State, 

 the former being the president of the conference. The meetings con- 

 tinued until July 7, 1911, when a treaty was signed under the terms 

 of which all pelagic sealing by citizens or subjects of the signatory 

 powers will be prohibited for a period of 15 years, leaving to the 

 respective Governments having fur-seal islands the right to deal 

 independently with the question of killing on land. 



In order, however, to compensate for pelagic sealing interests thus 

 destroyed, the United States agrees to give to Great Britain (Can- 

 ada) 15 per cent and to Japan 15 per cent of the sealskins obtained 

 each year on the Pribilof Islands; Russia makes similar provision 

 with reference to the seals taken on the Commander Islands; and 

 Japan assigns 10 per cent of her sealskins taken on Robben Reef and 

 the Kuril Islands to each of the other three nations. 



Other provisions of the treaty are: (1) The advance payment by 

 the United States to Great Britain and Japan of $200,000 each, these 

 cash payments to be credited in lieu of sealskins due; (2) if no seals 

 are killed on the Pribilof Islands during any year when the herd 

 numbers 100,000 or more, the United States must pay $10,000 to 

 Great Britain and a like simi to Japan for such year. A special 

 article accords to the sea otter the same protection in extraterritorial 

 waters that the fur seal receives. 



The treaty was ratified by the Senate on July 24 and became effect- 

 ive on December 15, 1911. The effects of this agreement on the sadly 



