The Government of the United States of North America having consented to
an arrangement relating to fur sealing similar to the one already
existing between us and Great Britain, I believe it my duty to address
you to that effect the following, accompanied by the modifications which
we have drawn up with England:
The above-mentioned points being exactly based on the text of our
agreements with Great Britain, to which the Government of the United
States of North America has already adhered, we do not doubt that the
latter will follow suit. The receipt of a simple acknowledgment of the
formal adherence of your Government will be deemed sufficient for us to
consider the understanding with regard to fur sealing provisorily
established between us until further notice.
Annex II.
Brief account of the seal industry on
the Russian possessions in Bering Sea.
The fur seals resort at present chiefly to the Commander and Pribilof
islands in Bering Sea; these animals are only met with in small
numbers on other points of the Northern Hemisphere, as on Tulienew
Island, among the Russian possessions, and on the Kurile Islands. On
the Southern Hemisphere, where formerly they were somewhat numerous,
they hardly exist any longer. In their regular migrations they
rarely leave the warm ocean currents, one of which, the Kamtchatka
current, takes them to the Commander Islands, and the other, which
follows the American coast, carries them to the Pribilof
Islands.
The seals ordinarily appear on these islands at the end of April or
commencement of May. The males, which are the first to arrive,
establish themselves on the shore, always in the same places, each
one of them taking a certain extent of ground; the females follow
them about a month later; they are for the most part with young and
come up on shore often some days, sometimes a few hours, before
bringing forth. The newly born seals are nourished by the milk of
their mothers and this care obliges the latter to return constantly
to shore.
In the interest of the preservation of these animals, seals should be
killed on shore at the hauling grounds chiefly in June and July,
since at that time their skins have the desired quality, killing
only the “bachelor” males, which should be the sole object of the
industry, leaving the males serving for reproduction (sekatchi) with
their harems of females. Hunting on the open sea, which is done with
nets or firearms, is very injurious to the regular industry, since
in that way the animals are killed without distinction, young or
old, male or female (the latter generally with young); furthermore,
the number of animals killed is not proportioned to their
reproduction. For every seal killed many are wounded and carried far
away without
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profit to the
sealer. Finally, the fright caused to the animals by pelagic hunting
hinders their regular migration to their rookeries; this is why, in
the opinion of specialists, that sort of hunting may lead to the
complete destruction of the species. It has been frequently stated
how great an influence the abuse of the practice of this industry on
the open sea has had in the diminution of the seals. The regular
industry has only been able to exist owing to the occasional
reduction of such abuse.
The sealing industry commenced from the discovery of the Pribilof and
Commander islands at the end of the eighteenth century. In the early
times its character was that of a veritable devastation, which
brought about the consequences indicated above. Although the
Russo-American Company, founded in 1799, showed a certain weak
desire to put an end to this devastation, still, even during its
existence, young seals of four months, male and female, “greys,”
were destroyed with such persistence that the persons engaged in the
industry could no longer even find a sale for their product; they
heated their stoves, baths, furnaces, with seal skins, and sometimes
threw them into the sea. This condition of things lasted until 1803,
when, by order of the Russian administration on the American shore,
the business was suspended for two years on the island of St.
George, and for four years on the island of St. Paul. After these
short interims the devastation recommenced, and the number of seals
again began to diminish. In 1830 attention was again brought to the
situation on the island of St. Paul, and the killing was limited to
males, young or old, from the age of 2 or 3 years upward. On Bering
and Medny islands the industry had entirely ceased on account of the
diminution of the species there. Later the company, on
administrative order, limited its industry to 4,000 skins a
year.
When, in 1867, the Territory of Alaska was, with its dependent
islands, ceded by Russia to the United States, the Russo-American
Company was dissolved and the seal industry on the Commander and
Tuleny islands remained in the hands of the Russian Government.
Other places of resort of these animals were then discovered on
certain points of the eastern coast of Kamchatka and of the Asiatic
continent on the shores of the Japan Sea and along the Strait of
Tartary.
Sealing was then engaged in by the Aleutes, the aborigines of the
Commander Islands, who so reduced the number of these animals that a
new company, founded in 1871 to farm the industry in question in the
Russian possessions, could only take the first year 3,000 skins.
More rational measures were taken to insure the reproduction of the
seals. In place of killing the gray seals of 4 months old, the sex
of which could not be distinguished exteriorly, only those animals
were killed which are called “bachelors,” that is to say 3-year-old
males, leaving the females of the same age for reproductive
purposes. The term of the concession granted to that company expired
in 1891, after which the State concluded to contract with a new
concessionary company, called the Russian Company, for the
exploitation of seals. This exploitation on the Commander and Tuleny
islands was confined to it for ten years. Among the conditions
imposed on it were the observance of rules concerning the quantity
and quality of the animals killed, the time, place, and method of
hunting these animals, the skins of which were sent each year to the
company by the natives. The Government of, Russia has shown itself
to be desirous of putting this industry into the most rational
condition possible, in the interest of the conservation of a
property which is the means of existence of the sparse population of
these islands.
The measures taken by the Government, as well as the restrictions
imposed on sealing on Russian territory, which were equally binding
upon the concessionaires and the natives, were found to be
insufficient for the preservation of the species, on account of the
damage caused by pelagic sealing, which was pursued regardless of
rules. At the time of the Russo-American Company, already
foreigners, American or Canadian, engaged in illicit commerce with
the natives on the coasts of Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean,
furnishing the inhabitants with guns and strong drink, and unduly
exploiting the hunting and fishing industries. After the cession of
Alaska to the United States and the suppression of that company,
which took certain measures, inefficacious though they were, against
the exploitation of these industries by poaching vessels, poaching
increased, and especially the sealing in Russian waters. The vessels
coming into our waters for that purpose, especially from Canada,
knew perfectly well that it was the habit of the seals to assemble
at a certain time, corresponding to migrations of the fish in the
open sea, at what is called the “sealing grounds;” that is to say,
at the places where are to be found the marine plants, and where
they found the fish on which they fed. The crews of these vessels
killed these animals in great masses, without distinction of sex or
age. Each year the importance of this industry, injurious to the
preservation of the species, increased. According to an approximate
estimate made from 1888 to 1891, there were put upon the market a
product of pelagic sealing amounting to about 100,000 skins, of
which seven-tenths were those of females bearing young.
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Especially the activity of these vessels increased after the
conclusion, in 1891, of the agreement between the United States and
England, totally interdicting sealing in the eastern portion of
Bering Sea, that is to say, in the waters to the east of the line of
demarcation of 1867. The freebooters then betook themselves to the
western part of that sea. It has been shown that in 1890 43 foreign
vessels were engaged in the business under these conditions, and
killed 53,136 animals. In 1891 the number of these vessels was 84,
having killed 50,000 seals, 9,500 of which were taken in Russian
waters; in 1892, 62 vessels, two of which were steamers; their
spoils were 45,000 seal skins, 15,000 of which were taken in Russian
waters. These figures are certainly below the actual facts, and the
local authorities were of the opinion that the number of seals
killed was very much greater.
The chief of administration of the Commander Islands stated that in
1892, notably, 60 poaching vessels came to the islands, killing
seals on land and sea. Some of the marauders knocked over the
beasts, while others exchanged shots with the coast guards employed
in protecting the industry. The audacity of these marauders reached
the point that they knocked over the seals on their very hauling
grounds. As regards the island of Tuleny in particular, the
marauders went there each year after the military guard had been
withdrawn, owing to the impossibility of leaving them there on
account of the climatic conditions on that island, and killed the
seals which remained. Then in 1891 the guard, on returning in the
spring, found the bodies of 5,000 seals from which the skins had
been removed.
This organized marauding was not confined to the acts of captains of
vessels; it had become a regular commercial enterprise, in which
considerable capital was embarked. According to the report of the
Russian consul-general at New York, a certain number of San
Francisco capitalists, besides captains of vessels, having brought
together for the purpose half a million dollars, participated in the
fitting out of vessels engaged in this enterprise, which were sent
out from ports of the American Union. The crews of these vessels
were composed of men ready for bold undertakings, and to whom the
fear of stern measures was but an inducement.
The cruising of Russian war ships in the Bering Sea commenced in
1875, when for the first time the clipper Haidamak was sent to put an end to the illegal commerce in
strong drinks in which certain American and other vessels were
engaged with the natives. These vessels were in reality engaged in
sealing. Soon after, war ships were detached from the Russian naval
forces for this duty in the Pacific Ocean. To the same end the
ministry of marine established, in 1884, on the island of Tuleny, a
guard composed of 19 men and 1 officer from the commencement of May
until the end of October. But afterwards, when in 1891 a great
influx of marauding vessels had commenced, ordinary measures of
precaution, such as sending the Aleute was,
were insufficient. A special vessel was deemed necessary to be
employed in permanent service, and therefore the Yakout, bought in England for this service, left in 1892
for Bering Sea. Following the sessions of the commission over which
Privy Counsellor Kapoustine presided, certain legislative enactments
wereput in operation; a prohibitive zone of 30 miles was established
and recognized by England in the arrangement of 1893. But in his
report for that year the governor-general of the Amour, while
admitting that the establishment of that zone had a certain good
effect, stated that the purpose of preservation was not
accomplished, since foreign vessels continued to hunt outside of
that zone, killing the seals en masse or frightening them from their
accustomed route, and preventing them from following the currents
which brought them to the Commander Islands and other places where
they passed the summer. To this circumstance it was necessary to
attribute the diminution of the production of the industry on these
islands farmed by the Russian Company.
The diminution of this production was so great in 1895 that only
16,652 skins resulted, making a considerable difference in the
provisions of the contract entered into with the company, in which
50,000 animals was estimated as the number to be taken annually.
Such a difference existed notably, in fact, in 1891, when the
operations of the company commenced.a Still smaller returns were to
be expected in 1896, and should be from 8,000 to 12,000 skins, since
the operations on Medny Island had greatly declined, following the
disappearance of many colonies of the animals. According to
authentic reports, marauding vessels in 1895 hunted between the
coast of Kamchatka and Bering Island, on the shores of which
thousands of newly born seals were found, the mothers of which had
evidently been killed at a short distance from the shore; this
supposition becomes a certainty when the manner of life of these
animals is given. For these reasons, and in consideration of the
damage caused to the company farming the industry, the Russian
Government consented to a reduction of the obligations due its
treasury by that company.
