Henry Wood Elliott was sent by the United States Government to oversee fur seal harvesting in Alaskan islands. The US leased the islands to the Alaska Commercial Company but prohibited them from sealing in open waters. However, foreign sealers quickly killed the herds.
Henry Wood Elliott
[Image courtesy of NOAA]
Northern Fur Seal
[Image courtesy of NOAA]
Elliott was a U.S. Treasury official by profession. He also created paintings which serve as a visual historical record of wildlife in Alaska.
"Seal Rookery, Pribilof Islands, Alaska", 1872
[Image courtesy of Linda Hall Library]
“Sea bird rookery”, 1874
[Image courtesy of Linda Hall Library]
“Coast of Vancouver Island”, 1874
[Image courtesy of Linda Hall Library]
“Man fishing with a harpoon on ice"
[Image courtesy of Linda Hall Library]
“Fishing from kaiaks, Captains Harbour", 1872
[Image courtesy of Linda Hall Library]
Elliott traveled to the Pribilof Islands in Alaska, creating reports on fur seals in addition to art. While his reports regarding unethical seal harvesting led to his dismissal from the Treasury, he continued his work on fur seals. In 1896, he compiled a report that contributed to the passing of the Fur Seal Treaty.
"I repeatedly called attention to this fact in my published report that all of the killable seals required were easily taken in thirty working days between June 14 and July 20 of every year... Sixteen years have elapsed since that work was finished; its accuracy as to the statements of fact then published, was at that time unquestioned on these islands, and it is to-day freely acknowledged there. But what has been the logic of events? Why is it that we find now only a scant tenth of the number of young male seals which I saw there in 1872?"
- Excerpt from H.W. Elliott's 1896 report
Elliott's report, 1896
[Image courtesy of Internet Archive]
Fur seal breeding ground, 1896
[Image courtesy of Internet Archive]
North Rookery of St. George's island
[Image courtesy of Internet Archive]
REVISED REGULATIONS FOR THE DRIVING AND KILLING OF MALE FUR SEALS ON THE PRIBILOV ISLANDS OF ALASKA.
1. No herd of male or killable fur seals shall be driven over a greater distance than one-half mile from the hauling ground upon which it is found and from which it is taken by the drivers.
2. At a distance of a half mile from the borders of the several hauling grounds of the killable fur seals on the Pribylov Islands, and well back from the sea margin, killing grounds shall be established; so that each and every locality known on “the islands of St. Paul and St. George (of the Pribylov group) as a hauling ground shall have its own slaughtering field, and upon which all seals killed for tax and shipment, driven from said localities, must be killed and skinned.
3. All male fur seals that are driven in these herds up to these killing grounds Foi the hauling grounds adjacent, as above specified in regulations 1 and 2, shall be killed without culling out any save those which are under 1 year of age, known as ‘‘short yearlings,” and over 4 years of age, known as ‘‘ wigs.” These two classes, under and over age, may be culled out and rejected, and those only.
- Conclusion to H.W. Elliott's 1896 report
Elliott drafted the original Fur Seal Treaty in 1905 with the Secretary of State, John Hay. In 1911 the treaty was signed by the major sealing powers: the United States, Russia, Japan, and Great Britain. It gave the US regulatory power over sealing, banned open-water sealing, and placed hunting restrictions based on population size.
"The Fur Seal Treaty of 1911 served as the model for follow-on diplomacy and legislation. It was the forerunner and inspiration for legislation such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the 1994 amendments to this law, and other legislation guiding the mission and philosophy of NOAA."
- NOAA Historic Events in 2007
Fur Seal Pups
[Image courtesy of NOAA]