Aug. 24, 1912. Sec. 2. Sec. 3. which notice may be given at the expiration of fourteen years or at any time afterwards, and it is agreed that at any time prior to the termination of this Convention, upon the request of any one of the High Contracting Parties, a conference shall be held forthwith between representatives of all the Parties hereto, to consider and if possible agree upon a further extension of this Convention with such additions and modifications, if any, as may be found desirable. 309. Act of August 24, 1912. No citizen of the United States, nor person owing duty of obedience to the laws or the treaties of the United States, nor any of their vessels, nor any vessel of the United States, nor any person belonging to or on board of such vessel, shall kill, capture, or pursue, at any time or in any manner whatever, any fur seal in the waters of the north Pacific Ocean north of the thirtieth parallel of north latitude and including the seas of Bering, Kamchatka, Okhotsk, and Japan; nor shall any such person or vessel kill, capture, or pursue sea otter in any of the waters mentioned beyond the distance of three miles from the shore line of the territory of the United States. No citizen of the United States, nor person above described in the first section, shall equip, use, or employ, or furnish aid in equipping, using, or employing, or furnish supplies to any vessel used or employed, or to be used or employed, in carrying on or taking part in pelagic sealing or in sea-otter hunting in said waters, nor shall any of their vessels nor any vessel of the United States be so used or employed; and no person or vessel shall use any of the ports or harbors of the United States, or any part of the territory of the United States, for any purposes whatsoever connected with the operations of pelagic sealing or sea-otter hunting in the waters named in the first section of this Act; and no vessel which is engaged or employed, or intended to be engaged or employed, for or in connection with pelagic sealing or sea-otter hunting in such waters shall use any of the ports or harbors or any part of the territory of the United States for any purpose whatsoever. The provisions of the first and second sections of this Act shall not apply to Indians, Aleuts, or other aborigines dwelling on the American coast of the waters mentioned in the first section of this Act who carry on pelagic sealing in canoes or undecked boats propelled wholly by paddles, oars, or sails, and not transported by or used in connection with other vessels, and manned by not more than five persons each, in the way hitherto practiced by the said Indians, Aleuts, or other aborigines, and without the use of firearms: Provided, however, That the exception made in this section shall not apply to Indians, Aleuts, or other aborigines in the employment of other persons or who shall kill, capture, or pursue fur seals or sea otters under contract to deliver the skins to any person. The importation or bringing into territory of the Sec. 4. United States, by any person whatsoever, of skins of fur seals or sea otters taken in the waters mentioned in the first section of this Act, or of skins identified as those of the species known as Callorhinus alascanus, Callorhinus ursinus, and Callorhinus kurilensis, or belonging to the American, Russian, or Japanese herds, whether raw, dressed, dyed, or manufactured, except such as have been taken under the authority of the respective parties to said convention, to which the breeding grounds of such herds belong, and have been officially marked and certified as having been so taken, is hereby prohibited; and all such articles imported or brought in after this Act shall take effect shall not be permitted to be exported, but shall be seized and forfeited to the United States. The President shall have power to make regulations Sec. 5. to carry this Act and the said convention into effect, and from time to time to add to, modify, amend, or revoke such regulations, as in his judgment may seem expedient. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of Commerce, under the direction of the President, to see that the said convention, the provisions of this Act, and the regulations made thereunder are executed and enforced; and all officers of the United States engaged in the execution and enforcement of this Act are authorized and directed to cooperate with the proper officers of any of the other parties to the said convention in taking such measures as may be appropriate and available under the said convention, this Act, or the regulations made thereunder for the purpose of preventing pelagic sealing as in this Act prohibited. Every person guilty of a violation of any of the pro- Sec. 6. visions of said convention, or of this Act, or of any regulation made thereunder, shall, for each offense, be fined not less than two hundred dollars or more than two thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both; and every vessel, its tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo, at any time used or employed in violation of this Act, or of the regulations made thereunder, shall be forfeited to the United States. If any vessel shall be found within the waters to which Sec. 7. this Act applies, having on board fur-seal skins or seaotter skins, or bodies of seals or sea otters, or apparatus or implements for killing or taking seals or sea otter, it shall be presumed that such vessel was used or employed in the killing of said seals or sea otters, or that said apparatus or implements were used in violation of this Act, until the contrary is proved to the satisfaction of the court, in so far as such vessel, apparatus, and implements are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Sec. 8. Sec. 9. Sec. 10. Any violation of the said convention, or of this Act, or of the regulations thereunder, may be prosecuted either in the district court of Alaska, or in any district court of the United States in California, Oregon, or Washington. It shall be the duty of the President to cause a guard or patrol to be maintained in the waters frequented by the seal herd or herds and sea otter, in the protection of which the United States is especially interested, composed of naval or other public vessels of the United States designated by him for such service; and any officer of any such vessel engaged in such service and any other officers duly designated by the President may search any vessel of the United States, in port, or in territorial waters of the United States, or on the high seas, when suspected of having violated, or being about to violate, the provisions of said convention, or of this Act, or of any regulation made thereunder, and may seize such vessel and the officers and crew thereof and bring them into the most accessible port of the Territory or of any of the States mentioned in the eighth section of this Act for trial. Any vessel or person described in the first section of this Act offending or being about to offend against the prohibitions of the said convention, or of this Act, or of the regulations made thereunder, may be seized and detained by the naval or other duly commissioned officers of any of the parties to the said convention other than the United States, except within the territorial jurisdiction of one of the other of said parties, on condition, however, that when such vessel or person is so seized and detained by officers of any party other than the United States such vessel or person shall be delivered as soon as practicable at the nearest point to the place of seizure, with the witnesses and proofs necessary to establish the offense so far as they are under the control of such party, to the proper official of the United States, whose courts alone shall have jurisdiction to try the offense and impose the penalties for the same: Provided, however, That the said officers of any party to said convention other than the United States shall arrest and detain vessels and persons, as in this section specified, only after such party, by appropriate legislation or otherwise, shall have authorized the naval or other officers of the United States duly commissioned and instructed by the President to that end to arrest, detain, and deliver to the proper officers of such party vessels and subjects under the jurisdiction of that Government offending against said convention or any statute or regulation made by that Government to enforce said convention. The President of the United States shall determine by proclamation when such authority has been given by the other parties to said convention, and his determination shall be conclusive upon the question; and such proclamation may be modified, amended, or revoked by proclamation of the President whenever, in his judgment, it is deemed expedient. From and after the approval of this Act all killing of Sec. 11. fur seals on the Pribilof Islands, or anywhere within the jurisdiction of the United States in Alaska, shall be suspended for a period of five years, and shall be, and is hereby, declared to be unlawful; and all punishments and penalties heretofore enacted for the illegal killing of fur seals shall be applicable and inflicted upon offenders under this section: Provided, That this prohibition shall not apply to the annual killing on the Pribilof Islands of such male seals as are needed to supply food, clothing, and boat skins for the natives on the islands, as is provided for in article eleven of said convention; the skins of all seals so used for food shall be preserved and annually sold by the Government, and proceeds of such annual sales shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States. * * * The term "pelagic sealing" where used in this Act Sec. 12. shall be taken to mean the killing, capturing, or pursuing in any manner whatsoever of fur seals while the same are in the water. The word "person" where used in this Act shall extend and be applied to partnerships and corporations. This act shall take effect immediately, and shall con- Sec. 13. tinue in force until the termination of the said convention. 310. Regulations for the protection of fur-bearing animals in Alaska, dated May 24, 1915, Department of Commerce. Under the provisions of section 4 of the act approved April 21, 1910, the hunting or killing of sea otter within the limits of Alaska Territory or in the waters thereof has been forbidden until November 1, 1920. 311. Provisions of Revised Statutes. R. S., 1956. Mar. 3, 1899. Sec. 4. No person shall kill any otter, mink, marten, sable, or fur seal, or other fur-bearing animal, within the limits of Alaska Territory or in the waters thereof; and every person guilty thereof shall, for each offense, be fined not less than two hundred nor more than one thousand Apr. 21, 1910. dollars or imprisoned not more than six months, or both; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo found engaged in violation of this section shall be forfeited; but the Secretary of Commerce shall have power to authorize the killing of any such mink, marten, sable, fur seal, or other fur-bearing animal under such regulations as he may prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Commerce to prevent the killing of any fur seal except as authorized by law and to provide for the execution of the provisions of this section until it is otherwise provided by law. Section nineteen hundred and fifty-six of the Revised Mar. 2, 1889. Statutes of the United States is hereby declared to in- Sec. 3. clude and apply to all the dominion of the United States in the waters of Behring Sea; and it shall be the duty of June 6, 1900. June 26, 1906, Sec. 2. the President, at a timely season in each year, to issue his proclamation and cause the same to be published for one month in at least one newspaper if any such there be published at each United States port of entry on the Pacific coast, warning all persons against entering said waters for the purpose of violating the provisions of said section; and he shall also cause one or more vessels of the United States to diligently cruise said waters and arrest all persons, and seize all vessels found to be, or to have been, engaged in any violation of the laws of the United States therein. 312. Report to Congress. The governor [of Alaska] shall from time to time inquire into the operations of any person, company, association, or corporation authorized by the United States, by contract or otherwise, to kill seal or other fur-bearing animals in the district, and any and all violations by such person, company, association, or corporation of the agreement with the United States under which the operations are being conducted, and shall annually report to Congress the result of such inquiries. 313. Alaska fisheries. Every person, company, or corporation carrying on the business of canning, curing, or preserving fish or manufacturing fish products within the territory known as Alaska, ceded to the United States by Russia by the treaty of March thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixtyseven, or in any of the waters of Alaska over which the United States has jurisdiction, shall, in lieu of all other license fees and taxes therefor and thereon, pay license taxes on their said business and output as follows: Canned salmon, four cents per case; pickled salmon, ten cents per barrel; salt salmon in bulk, five cents per one hundred pounds; fish oil, ten cents per barrel; fertilizer, twenty cents per ton. The payment and collection of such license taxes shall be under and in accordance with the provisions of the Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, entitled "An Act to define and punish crimes in the district of Alaska, and to provide a code of criminal procedure for the district," and amendments thereto. The catch and pack of salmon made in Alaska by the owners of private salmon hatcheries operated in Alaska shall be exempt from all license fees and taxation of every nature at the rate of ten cases of canned salmon to every one thousand red or king salmon fry liberated, upon the following conditions: The Secretary of Commerce may from time to time, and on the application of the hatchery owner shall, within a reasonable time thereafter, cause such private hatcheries to be inspected for the purpose of determining the character of their operations, efficiency, |