The North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911, formally known as the Convention between the United States and Other Powers Providing for the Preservation and Protection of Fur Seals, was a treaty signed on July 7, 1911, designed to manage the
commercial harvest of fur-bearing mammals (such as
Northern fur seals and
sea otters) in the
Pribilof Islands of the
Bering Sea. The treaty, signed by the United States,
Great Britain (also representing Canada),
Japan, and
Russia, outlawed open-water
seal hunting and acknowledged the United States' jurisdiction in managing the on-shore hunting of seals for commercial purposes. It was the first international treaty to address
wildlife preservation issues.[1]
Terms of the treaty
The two most significant terms of the treaty were the banning of
pelagic seal hunting and the granting of jurisdiction to the United States in managing on-shore hunts.[2] In exchange for granting jurisdiction to the United States, the other signatories to the treaty were guaranteed payments and/or minimum takes of seal furs while the treaty remained in effect, subject to certain conditions.[3]
The treaty also provided an exemption to
aboriginal tribes which hunted seals using traditional methods and for non-commercial purposes including food and shelter. Aboriginal tribes specifically mentioned in the treaty include the
Aleut and
Aino (Ainu) peoples.[3]
Authorship and ratification
The treaty was co-authored by environmentalist
Henry Wood Elliott and United States Secretary of State
John Hay in 1905, although the treaty was not signed for another six years. [1] The treaty was signed at Washington, on July 7, 1911, with ratifications by each signatory on the following dates:
Ratifications were then exchanged at Washington on December 12, 1911, and the treaty was proclaimed two days later on December 14.[3]
Enactment and legacy
Following ratification, the U.S. Congress enacted an immediate five-year moratorium on hunting, to allow for recovery of the decimated herds. The treaty remained in effect until hostilities erupted among the signatories in World War II. However, the treaty set precedent for future national and international laws and treaties, including the
Fur Seal Act of 1966 and the
Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.[1] On the 100th anniversary of the treaty in 2011, the
Pribilof Fur Seal Monument was erected.
Bailey, Thomas A. "The North Pacific Sealing Convention of 1911." Pacific Historical Review 4.1 (1935): 1–14.
online, a standard scholarly history
Castree, Noel. "Nature, economy and the cultural politics of theory: the ‘war against the seals’ in the Bering Sea, 1870–1911." Geoforum 28.1 (1997): 1–20.
online[dead link]
Irwin, Robert. "Canada, Aboriginal Sealing, and the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention." Environmental History 20.1 (2015): 57–82.
Dorsey, Kurkpatrick. The dawn of conservation diplomacy: US-Canadian wildlife protection treaties in the progressive era (U of Washington Press, 2009).
excerpt
Gluek Jr, Alvin C. "Canada's Splendid Bargain: the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911." Canadian Historical Review 63.2 (1982): 179–201.