
JAPANESE FUR SEALING 
by 
Oliver L. Austin Jr and Ford Wilke }/ 
SUMMARY 
1. Although the Japanese hunted the fur seal on a emall ecale in earlier tines, the 
animal did not assume economic importance in Japan until the end of the 19th century. 
Then the example of the foreign pelagic sealers, who were reaping a rich harvest in seale 
in waters right up to Japan's shores, awakened the Japanese to the possibilities for great 
profite from pelagic fur sealing. 
2. The Japanese began intensive sealing operations in the mid-1890's. They could of 
course operate far more cheaply than foreign shipe in western Pacific waters, especially 
after seals became increasingly scarce, and within a few years foreign competition in Japa- 
nese waters ceased. However, the decrease in the number of seals wintering near Japan, as 
a result of the intensive sealing operations, also forced the Japanese sealing fleet to 
hant farther from home. The richest hunting grounds were on the high seas close to the 
Pribilof and Commander island rookeries, especially after the rapid decimation of seals 
from the Robben Island seal colony closer to Japan. Japan protected the Robben Island herd 
after 1905 but continued to expand pelagic sealing elsewhere. By 1910 the Japanese were 
operating 53 pelagic sealing vessels. 
3e Japan was not a party to earlier international agreements to conserve the dwin- 
dling fur seal resources but did join in the 1911 four-power conference which drew up the 
Fur Seal Convention. This treaty banned pelagic sealing and set up a system of distri- 
bution among the signatories of the income from the annual harvest from the Pribilof, Com- 
sander, and Robben island seal colonies. The Japanese Government paid indemities to the 
Japanese pelagic sealers who were deprived of their livelihood under the new restrictions. 
However, almost immediately Japanese sealers began to take seals illegally, especially 
anong the herds wintering in waters off Japan. 
4. Hoping to resume pelagic sealing openly in order to obtain a greater portion of 
the profits from the,seal resources, Japan opened negotiations to rovise the treaty, with- 
out success, in 1926 and again in 1936. The chief argument they advanced was that the 
seals had increased to such numbers that they were damaging the fisheries vital to Japan. 
The fact that in 1929-30 three seals which had been tagged in the Fribilofs were taken in 
Japanese waters wae used to substantiate the claim that a large proportion of the Pribilof 
seals wintered off Japan. Japan finally gave official notice in October 1940 of her in- 
tention to abrogate the Fur Seal Convention and completed that action in October 1941. 
1/ This report was prepared by Dr Oliver L. Austin Jr, head, Wildlife Branch, Fisheries 
Division, and Mr Ford Wilke, on temporary assignment to Natural Resources Section fron 
the Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Iuterior, Translations and summaries 
of all Japanese material were furnished by Messrs Nagahiea Kuroda, Shoju Kurosawa, and 
Taizo Hasegawa of the Wildlife Branch staff. 
