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. 
cBE 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.! 
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 sealing, 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 
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, 
a 177 
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