50 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



(E.) — International Action. 



169. In the foregoinj::;- remarks on tlie measures available for the pro- 

 tection and xjreservation of the fur-seal of the North Pacific, reference 

 is made throughout especially to the eastern part of that ocean, includ- 

 ing more particularly the area comprised in the range of those fur-seals 

 of which the summer haunts and breeding places are about or on the 

 Pribyloff Islands, and of which the winter home is found especially off 

 the coast of British Columbia. It is evident, however, that the same 

 remarks and recommendations apply equally to those fur-seals which 

 in summer centre about the Commander Islands, and in winter fre- 

 quent the seas off the coast of Japan. 



170. It may be stated, further, that no system of control can be con- 

 sidered as absolutely complete and effective which does not include 

 under common regulations all parts of the North Pacific, and that the 

 facility of execution of measures and their efficiency would, under any 



system of regulations, be much increased by the concurrent 

 28 action of Great Britain, the United States, Eussia, and Japan, 



as indicated in the Message of the President of the United 

 States in 1889. Apart from the fact that vessels prevented from seal- 

 ing at given dates in certain areas might at these times frequent other 

 waters in increased numbers, the circumstance that there is a certain, 

 though not fully known, interrelation and interchange of seals between 

 the eastern and western breeding islands of Behring Sea, points very 

 clearly to the advisability of such co-operation in protection. 



