other vessel, shall make out or exhibit or cause to be made out or exhibited any false or fraudulent invoice, bill of lading, bill of parcels, or other false estimate of any property laden or pretended to be laden on board of such ship, steamboat, or other vessel, with intent to injure or defraud any insurer of such ship, steamboat, or other vessel or property, or any part thereof, such person, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than six months nor more than three years.

The collector and deputy collectors appointed for Sec. 174. Alaska Territory, and any person authorized in writing

Sec. 10.

by either of them, or by the Secretary of the Treasury, Feb. 14, 1903, shall have power to arrest persons and seize vessels and merchandise liable to fines, penalties, or forfeitures under this and the other laws extended over the Territory, and to keep and deliver the same to the marshal. [Sec. 10 of the act of Feb. 14, 1903, bestows this power in certain cases on the Secretary of Commerce.]

PART XXIV.-SEAL HUNTING AND ALASKA FISHERIES.

308. Convention with Great Britain, Japan, and Russia effective December 15, 1911.

309. Act of August 24, 1912.

310. Regulations for the protection of fur-bearing animals in Alaska, dated March 8, 1911, Department of Commerce.

Art. I.

Art. II.

311. Provisions of Revised Statutes. 312. Report to Congress.

313. Alaska fisheries.

314. Alien fishermen in Alaska.

308. Convention with Great Britain, Japan, and Russia effective December 15, 1911.

The High Contracting Parties mutually and reciprocally agree that their citizens and subjects respectively, and all persons subject to their laws and treaties, and their vessels, shall be prohibited, while this Convention remains in force, from engaging in pelagic sealing 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, and that every such person and vessel offending against such prohibition may be seized, except within the territorial jurisdiction of one of the other Powers, and detained by the naval or other duly commissioned officers of any of the Parties to this Convention, to be delivered as soon as practicable to an authorized official of their own nation at the nearest point to the place of seizure, or elsewhere as may be mutually agreed upon; and that the authorities of the nation to which such person or vessel belongs alone shall have jurisdiction to try the offense and impose the penalties for the same; and that the witnesses and proofs necessary to establish the offense, so far as they are under the control of any of the Parties to this Convention, shall also be furnished with all reasonable promptitude to the proper authorities having jurisdiction to try the offense.

Each of the High Contracting Parties further agrees that no person or vessel shall be permitted to use any of its ports or harbors or any part of its territory for any purposes whatsoever connected with the operations of pelagic sealing in the waters within the protected area mentioned in Article I.

Each of the High Contracting Parties further agrees Art. III. that no sealskins taken in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean within the protected area mentioned in Article I, and no sealskins identified as the species known as Callorhinus alascanus, Callorhinus ursinus, and Callorhinus kurilensis, and belonging to the American, Russian or Japanese herds, except such as are taken under the authority of the respective Powers to which the breeding grounds of such herds belong and have been officially marked and certified as having been so taken, shall be permitted to be imported or brought into the territory of any of the Parties to this Convention.

It is further agreed that the provisions of this Conven- Art. IV. tion shall not apply to Indians, Ainos, Aleuts, or other aborigines dwelling on the coast of the waters mentioned in Article I, who carry on pelagic sealing in canoes not transported by or used in connection with other vessels, and propelled entirely by oars, paddles, or sails, and manned by not more than five persons each, in the way hitherto practiced and without the use of firearms; provided that such aborigines are not in the employment of other persons, or under contract to deliver the skins to any person.

Each of the High Contracting Parties agrees that it Art. V. will not permit its citizens or subjects or their vessels to kill, capture or pursue beyond the distance of three miles from the shore line of its territories sea otters in any part of the waters mentioned in Article I of this Convention. Each of the High Contracting Parties agrees to enact Art. VI. and enforce such legislation as may be necessary to make effective the foregoing provisions with appropriate penalties for violations thereof.

It is agreed on the part of the United States, Japan, Art. VII. and Russia that each respectively will maintain a guard or patrol in the waters frequented by the seal herd in the protection of which it is especially interested, so far as may be necessary for the enforcement of the foregoing provisions.

All of the High Contracting Parties agree to cooperate Art. VIII. with each other in taking such measures as may be appropriate and available for the purpose of preventing pelagic sealing in the prohibited area mentioned in Article I.

The term of pelagic sealing is hereby defined for the Art. IX. purposes of this Convention as meaning the killing, capturing or pursuing in any manner whatsoever of fur seals

at sea.

* * *

This Convention shall go into effect upon the 15th day Art. XVI. of December, 1911, and shall continue in force for a period of fifteen (15) years from that date, and thereafter until terminated by twelve (12) months' written notice given by one or more of the Parties to all of the others,

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.