CHAPTER XV. 



THE RESULTS OF THE PARIS AWARD. 



A. THE ARBITRATION. 



Before taking up the question of what benefits have resulted to the fur-seal herd 

 from the regulations formulated by the Paris Tribunal of Arbitration, it will be worth 

 our while to review briefly the history of the fur-seal controversy which led up to the 

 Tribunal. 



THE ORIGIN OF THE FUR-SEAL QUESTION. 



It was not until after the extension of pelagic sealing into Bering Sea, first by 

 unlawful raiding of the rookeries, begun about the year 1879, and afterwards, by 

 the invasion of the summer feeding grounds of the herd in 1880, that there came to 

 be a fur seal question. The first recorded pelagic catch in Bering Sea is that of the 

 schooner City of San Diego in the year 1883. 1 



THE SEIZURE OF VESSELS. 



In 1886 a large fleet of sealing vessels was engaged in Bering Sea, and of these a 

 number were seized by the United States vessels detailed to guard the islands, 

 among them three Canadian schooners, the Carolina, the Onward, and the Thornton. 

 The fleet was still further increased in the following year and more seizures were 

 made. Against the seizure of Canadian vessels Great Britain protested, and from 

 the resulting correspondence the fur-seal question, as we now know it, arose. 



EFFORTS TO SECURE INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION. 



Realizing the danger which threatened its fur-seal herd in the rapid expansion of 

 pelagic vsealing, and especially in its extension to the waters adjacent to the breeding 

 grounds, the United States, in 1887, opened up a correspondence with the Govern- 

 ments of Germany, Sweden and Norway, Russia, Japan, and Great Britain with a 

 view to such international cooperation as should secure the protection of the herd. 

 Secretary Bayard, in his letter to. these several Governments, called attention to the , 

 fact that "the unregulated and indiscriminate killing of the seals in many parts of the j 

 world has driven them from place to place, and by breaking up their habitual resorts - 

 has greatly reduced their numbers." He predicted a similar result to the seals of the 

 northern hemisphere, unless steps were taken for their protection. Nothing came of 

 this correspondence. 



PROPOSED MEASURES OF PROTECTION 



In the year 1888 Secretary Bayard proposed to Great Britain that by mutual 

 arrangement among the nations interested there should be established a close season 



1 See foot note to page 142. 



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