A group of islands off southwest Alaska in the Bering Sea. First visited and named by a Russian explorer in 1786, they are noted as a breeding ground for seals.
Pribilof Islands
Dictionary:
Prib·i·lof Islands (prĭb'ə-lôf') 
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A group of islands off southwest Alaska in the Bering Sea. First visited and named by a Russian explorer in 1786, they are noted as a breeding ground for seals.
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| US History Encyclopedia: Pribilof Islands |
The Pribilof Islands, in the Bering Sea, were first visited in 1786 by the Russian explorer Gerasim Pribylov. The islands were ceded to the United States by Russia at the time of the purchase of Alaska in 1867. As the summer breeding grounds of the largest known herd of seals, they became the subject of a controversy between the United States, Great Britain, and other nations whose subjects were slaughtering the seals for their fur. In 1869 the U.S. Congress passed a law restricting the sealing. An American cutter seized Canadian vessels engaged in pelagic sealing in 1886. The British government vigorously protested, and an arbitration tribunal, agreed to in 1892, decided against the United States in 1893. The dispute was finally settled in 1911 by the North Pacific Sealing Convention between Great Britain, Russia, Japan, and the United States. The United States was given the right to regulate the killing of the seals, and the herd increased from a low of 127,000 in 1911 to more than 2.5 million in the 1960s. Japan withdrew from the convention in 1941, during World War II.
Bibliography
Elliott, Henry Wood. The Seal Islands of Alaska. Kingston, Ontario, Canada: Limestone Press, 1976.
Jones, Dorothy Miriam. A Century of Servitude: Pribilof Aleuts Under U.S. Rule. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1980.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Pribilof Islands |
Pribilof Islands (prĭb'ĭlŏf'), group of four volcanic islands, off SW Alaska in the Bering Sea, c.230 mi (370 km) N of the Aleutian Islands; explored and named in 1786 by Gerasim Pribilof, a Russian navigator. The larger islands, St. Paul and St. George, are famous as the breeding place of the Alaska fur seal. The islands, part of the 1867 U.S. purchase of Alaska, became a seal reservation in 1868; they are administered by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. Prior to 1911, competition and ruthless hunting methods threatened extinction of the seals. At that time, the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Russia entered into the North Pacific Sealing Convention, giving the United States the right to enforce the provisions of the convention (see Bering Sea Fur-Seal Controversy under Bering Sea). Japan withdrew from the convention in 1941. Under protection, the seal herd has greatly increased. Blue and white foxes are native to the islands. The Aleuts, brought to the islands in the late 1700s by the Russians, make a living by processing the seal and fox furs.
| Wikipedia: Pribilof Islands |
Location in Alaska
The Pribilof Islands (often called the Fur Seal Islands, Russian: Kotovi) are a group of four volcanic islands, part of the US state of Alaska, lying in the Bering Sea, about 200 miles (320 km) north of Unalaska and 200 miles southwest of Cape Newenham, the nearest point on the North American mainland. The Siberian coast is roughly 500 miles (800 km) away from the Pribilof Islands. About 200 km² (80 sq mi) in total area, they are mostly rocky, covered with meadow and tundra, and support a human population of 684 (2000 census), concentrated in the towns of St. Paul and St. George, each on an island of the same name.
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Principal Islands
The principal islands are St. Paul (named from the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, on which it was discovered) and St. George (probably named after Pribilof's ship).[1] The Otter and Walrus islets are near St. Paul. The total land area of all the islands is 194.436 km² (75.072 sq mi). The islands are part of the Bering Sea unit of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.[2]
The islands were noted in 1767 and visited in 1788 by Gavriil Pribilof, who discovered the fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) rookeries for which they became famous. From Russia, the islands passed with Alaska to the United States in 1867. From 1870 to 1890, the United States government leased the islands to the Alaska Commercial Company. From 1890 through 1910, the North American Commercial Company held the monopoly on seal-hunting on the islands, but the industry shrank considerably owing to pelagic sealing.
The North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 was signed by Canada, Japan, Russia and the United States which further restricted hunting in the area. Under the Fur Seal Act[3] of 1966, hunting of these seals is forbidden in the Pribilof Islands with the exception of subsistence hunting by Indians, Aleuts, and Inuit who live on the islands.
Seal Island Historic District
Main article: Seal Island Historic District
The buildings on St George and St Paul related to the hunting of the Northern Fur Seal make up the National Historic Landmark District. Unfortunately, the buildings are in poor shape and are under threat of demolition.
Naturalist and Paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews visited the island in 1913 aboard the schooner Adventuress in her maiden voyage with John Borden and crew. His films of fur seals led to efforts to protect the colonies. The Adventuress sails now in the Puget Sound of Washington.
Today
Today, the City of Saint Paul, located on St. Paul Island, has a population of 532 (2000 census). The economy is heavily dependent on the annual opilio ("snow crab") fishery, and also on subsistence and commercial halibut harvests. Marine support services to the various commercial fleets plying the waters of the Bering Sea also contributes to the economy. The balance of economic activity on the island is government activity. The United States Coast Guard maintains a base and LORAN-C Master station on St. Paul. The National Weather Service maintains a station on the island, and NOAA maintains a significant presence there as well.
St. George, on St. George Island, has a smaller population of 152. The economy is similar to that of St Paul. Many of the residents of the islands are related. The islands are home to a majority of Alaska's Aleut population.
The Pribilof Islands are widely known as a birdwatching paradise, home to many birds that do not occur in North America beyond Alaska. Over 240 different species of birds have been identified there, and an estimated two million seabirds nest there annually. St. Paul, especially, is popular with birdwatchers, having a high cliff wall, known as Ridge Wall, above the Bering Sea.
References
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This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (April 2007) |
- ^
"Pribilof Islands". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. - ^ Bering Sea Unit, AMNWR U.S. Fish and Wildlife
- ^ Fur Seal Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 1151-1187, P.L. 89-702, November 2, 1966, 80 Stat. 1091)
- Pribilof Islands: Blocks 1000 thru 1068, Census Tract 1, Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska United States Census Bureau
External links
- The AMIQ Institute - a research project documenting the Pribilof Islands and their inhabitants
- FURSEAL.HTML - summary of the Fur Seal Act at U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service web site. Retrieved on April 16, 2008.
- 16 U.S.C. CHAPTER 24--CONSERVATION AND PROTECTION OF NORTH PACIFIC FUR SEALS - text of the U.S. Code on the U.S. Government Printing Office web site. Retrieved on April 16, 2008.
Coordinates: 56°50′N 170°00′W / 56.833°N 170°W
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Mentioned in
- Wild Kingdom: New Animal World - Seals of Pribilof (1998 Nature Film)
- The Prairie and Seal Island: Disneyland (TV Episode) (1954 TV Episode)
- Bering Sea (body of water, the Pacific/Russia/Alaska)
- fur seal (mammal, carnivore)
- Sealing (American history)
- Alaska pollock
- Walrus Island
- Pribilof Canyon
- Alaska (state)
- 1786 (chronology)
- Pribilof Island Shrew
- Aleutian
- Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
- St. George Island (Alaska)
