194 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDa" 



The Provisional Agreement of May, 1893. 



The provisional arrangement, which was to be entirely without retroactive force 

 as regards the British vessels seized in 1892, is as follows : 



I. During the year ending December, 1893, the English Government will prohibit their subjects 

 from killing or hunting seal within a zone of 10 marine miles on all the Eussian coasts of Bering Sea 

 and the North Pacific Ocean, as well as within a zone of 30 marine miles around the Komandorsty 

 Islands and Tnlfenew (Eobben Island). 



JI. British vessels engaged in hunting seals within the aforesaid zones, beyond Russian territorial 

 waters, may be seized by Eussian cruisers, to be handed over to British cruisers or to the nearest 

 British authorities. In case of impediment or difficulty, the commander of the Russian cruiser may 

 confine himself to seizing the papers of the aforementioned vessel, in order to deliver them to a British 

 cruiser or to transmit them to the nearest British authorities on the iirst opportunity. 



III. Her Majesty's Government engage to bring to trial before the ordinary tribunals, offering 

 all necessary guaranties, the British vessels which may be seized as having been engaged in sealing 

 within the prohibited zones beyond Eussian territorial waters. 



IV. The Imperial Eussian Government will limit to 30,000 the number of seals which may be 

 killed during the year 1893 on the coasts of the islands of Komandorsty and Tnlfenew (Eobben 

 Island). 



V. An agent of the British Government may visit the aforementioned islands (Komandorsky 

 and Tulenew) in order to obtain from the local authorities all necessiiry information on the working 

 and results of the agreement arrived at, but care should be taken to give previous information to these 

 authorities of the place and time of his visit, which should not be prolonged beyond a few weeks. 



VI. The present arrangement has no retroactive force as regards British vessels captured 

 previously by the cruisers of the Imperial Eussian Marine. 



The British Parliament enacted the necessary legislation (Seal Fishery, Korth 

 Pacific, Act 1893), an " order in council " was passed July 4, 1893, and the agreement 

 went into effect.' The Russian war vessels the Zabiaka and the Yakut, the latter a 

 small transport, as well as two British cruisers, kept up a constant patrol of the 

 30-mile zone. 



The success of 1892 and the continued closure of the American side of Bering Sea 

 during 1893 drove the great majority of the sealing fleet over to the Asiatic side early 

 in the season, and the Commander Islands herd was, therefore, preyed upon to a 

 previously unknown extent along the Japan coast during the migration, in addition 

 to the slaughter of the females on the feeding grounds. No less than 36 Canadian 

 schooners were sealing off" the Commander Islands, mostly outside the 30-mile limit, 

 and made a haul of 12,052 skins, while 22 schooners had hunted off the Japan coast, 

 obtaining a total of 30,617 skins. It is stated that, in addition to the above figures 

 jelating to the Canadian fleet, the iiumbei of skius landed at Hakodate, Japan, by 22 

 American vessels was 18,582, and by one Hawaiian vessel 3,212, a total of 21,794 skins 

 and the total for American fleet was 24,924, as given by Eraser (Stat. Catch 1896, pp. 

 33, 35). A small percentage of these was undoubtedly contributed by the Kuril herd 

 and Eobben Island seals, but considering these equalled by the catch of the unreported 

 Japanese schooners it is safe to say that the pelagic sealing of 1893 yielded about 



'The act of 1893 expired on July 1, 1895, and it consequently became necessary to provide 

 legislation continuing the agreement with Eussia. The new act (Seal Fisheries, North Pacific, Act 

 1895) contains various changes for the benefit of the pelagic sealers. The act and the consequent 

 order in council (November 21, 1895), with a comparison of the provisions of the acts of 1893 and 1895, 

 are given in the Twenty-eighth Annual Eeportof the Canadian Department of Fisheries (pp. 172-179). 



