Bering << BAIR ihng or BEER ihng, >> Sea controversy, was a dispute between the United States and the United Kingdom in the late 1800’s. It arose when the United States claimed control over the Bering Sea to protect fur seals.
The most valuable seal herds in the world lived around the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. The United States had acquired these islands from Russia in 1867. In 1870, the United States tried to protect the seals by limiting the number that could be killed annually and by leasing sealing-rights to one company. But U.S. authority extended only over the waters within 3 nautical miles (5.5 kilometers) of the islands. Canadians, Mexicans, Russians, Japanese, and Americans sailed close to the islands and killed the female seals when they came out into the ocean. As a result, the United States claimed authority over all Bering Sea waters. The United Kingdom protested. The matter was turned over to an international tribunal. In 1893, the board decided that the United States could not control these waters. But it placed certain limitations on killing seals there.
In 1911, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Japan signed an agreement to protect the seal herds. It allowed the United States a monopoly of the catch. Japan withdrew from the agreement in 1941. In 1957, the United States, Japan, the Soviet Union, and Canada signed an agreement to protect fur seals in the northern Pacific. The treaty expired in 1984. Since then, animal protection laws have prevented commercial hunting of fur seals in the Bering Sea.
See also Pribilof Islands; Seal (Hunting of seals)
