LAWS AND REGULATIONS RELATIVE TO FUR-SEAL 
FISHING. 
The following act of Congress, approved December 29, 1897, and the 
annexed regulations of the Paris Tribunal of Arbitration, concluded at 
Washington, February 29, 1892, in relation to the fur seals, are pub- 
lished for the information of all concerned: 
Act of Congress Approved December 29, 1897. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled. That no citizen of the United 
States, nor person owing duty of obedience to the laws or the treaties 
of the United States, nor any person belonging to or on board of a 
vessel of the United States, shall kill, capture, or hunt, at any time or 
in any manner whatever, any fur seal in the waters of the Pacific Ocean 
north of the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude and including Bering 
Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk. 
Section 2. That no citizen of the United States, nor person above 
described in section one, shall equip, use, or employ, or furnish aid in 
equipping, using or employing, or furnish supplies to any vessel used 
or employed, or to be used or employed in carrying on or taking part in 
said killing, capturing, or hunting of fur seals in said waters, nor shall 
any vessel of the United States be so used or employed. 
Sec. 3 . That every person guilty of a violation of the provisions of 
this Act, or of any regulations made thereunder, shall, for each offense, 
be fined not less than two hundred dollars or more than two thousand 
dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both; and every 
vessel, its tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo, at any time used or 
employed in violation of this Act, or of the regulations made there- 
under, shall be forfeited to the United States. 
Sec. 4. That if any vessel of the United States shall be found within 
the waters to which this Act applies, having on board fur-seal skins, or 
bodies of seals, or apparatus or implements suitable for killing or taking 
seals, it shall be presumed that such vessel was used or employed in the 
killing of said seals, or that said apparatus or implements were used in 
violation of this Act until the contrary is proved to the satisfaction of 
the court. 
Sec. 5. That any violation of this Act or of the regulations there- 
under may be prosecuted either in the district court of Alaska or in 
any district court of the United States in California, Oregon, or 
Washington. 
Sec. 6 . That this Act shall not interfere with the privileges accorded 
to Indians dwelling on the coast of the United States under section six 
3 
