Pribilof fur seal harvest and Alaska Commercial Company
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
The Alaska Commercial Company held the Pribilof Islands fur seal harvest in the late nineteenth century. A federal agency history records that the Aleut residents were later compensated by the US government, not by the company.
Per a NOAA history of Aleut management; compensation in 1979 and 1983.
Status As recorded: compensation was paid by the US government in 1979 and 1983; no payment by the company is on record in the sources reviewed.
- Alaska Commercial Company — Held the harvest lease in 1870–1890; its net profit figure is reported but not independently verified. US House of Representatives
- Aleut residents of the Pribilof Islands — Received compensation in 1979 and 1983, paid by the US government. NOAA, National Ocean Service, Office of Response and Restoration
What happened
The Alaska Commercial Company was the lessee of the fur seal harvest on the Pribilof Islands, Alaska, in the period 1870 to 1890. A 1913 US House of Representatives report on the fur seal industry is cited for the company's net profit over the lease (see Unknown: that document had not been opened when the record was compiled).
A history of Aleut management published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) records that the Aleut residents of the islands were compensated in 1979 and 1983, and that the payments came from the US government. The history states that the company did not pay.
Separately, a 1911 treaty among the United States, Great Britain (on behalf of Canada), Japan and Russia ended pelagic (open-sea) sealing in the North Pacific. The record cites a US State Department publication (FRUS 1940) for the treaty terms; the specific terms reported are not independently verified (see Unknown).
- 1870Start of the 1870–1890 period of the Alaska Commercial Company's harvest on the Pribilof Islands
- 1911Treaty ending open-sea fur sealing in the North Pacific signed
- 1979First compensation to Pribilof Aleut residents, paid by the US government
- 1983Second compensation to Pribilof Aleut residents, paid by the US government
How it looked
Shown
Recorded
- NOAA's history of Aleut management states that the US government, not the company, paid the Aleut residents of the Pribilof Islands in 1979 and 1983.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
Court
- None on record No court case on record.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the company's net profit over 1870–1890 was $18.75 million. The source cited, a 1913 US House report, had not been opened.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the company took 1.86 million seals in 1870–1890.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the Aleut residents were paid in food and shelter, not money, until 1946.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the 1911 convention gave Great Britain and Japan 15% shares each of the Pribilof land harvest in return for ending open-sea sealing; that the herd was estimated at 4 million or more before the hunt, 215,900 in the 1912 count and about 1.5 million in the 1950s; and that Japan withdrew from the agreement in 1941.
- None on record The legal basis of the 1979 and 1983 payments and their amounts are not given in the sources reviewed.
Did the harm stop?
The 1911 treaty ended open-sea sealing; the herd's later recovery is reported but not independently verified.
Who paid?
According to the NOAA history, the US government paid the compensation to the Aleut residents in 1979 and 1983; the company did not.
Sources
Government and regulators
- Aleut management history (Pribilof Islands)NOAA, National Ocean Service, Office of Response and Restoration ·
- Fur seal industry (1913 report)US House of Representatives · 1913
- Foreign Relations of the United States, 1940, vol. IV, document 1093 (fur seal convention note)US Department of State, Office of the Historian ·
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