Editing Northern fur seal (section)

==Status==
[[File:Orca feeding at Bogoslof Island.jpg|thumb|An orca feeding on a Northern fur seal]]
Recently, concern about the status of fur seal populations has increased, particularly in the Pribilof Islands, where pup production has decreased about 50% since the 1970s, with a continuing drop of about 6–7% per year. This has caused them to be listed as "vulnerable" on the [[IUCN Red List]], and more specifically, the Pribilof Islands / eastern Pacific stock is listed as "depleted" under the U.S. [[Marine Mammal Protection Act]], though to date the species is not yet listed under the U.S. [[Endangered Species Act]]). Increasing concern about the species' status, particularly in the eastern part of its range, has led to an intensified research program into their behavioral and foraging ecology. Possible causes for recent declines and lack of recovery are increased [[predation]] by killer whales, competition with [[fisheries]], and [[climate change]] effects, but to date, no scientific consensus has been reached. 

===Fur trade===
[[File:Killing fur seals, St Paul Island.jpg|thumb|Men killing fur seals on [[Saint Paul Island (Alaska)|Saint Paul Island, Alaska]], 1890s]]

Northern fur seals have been a staple food of native northeast Asian and [[Alaska Native]] peoples for thousands of years. The arrival of Europeans to [[Kamchatka]] and [[Alaska]] in the 17th and 18th centuries, first from Russia and later from North America, was followed by a highly extractive commercial fur trade. The commercial fur trade was accelerated in 1786, when [[Gavriil Pribylov]] discovered [[St. George Island (Alaska)|St. George Island]], a key [[rookery]] of the seals. An estimated 2.5&nbsp;million seals were killed from 1786 to 1867. This trade led to a decline in fur seal numbers. Restrictions were first placed on fur seal harvest on the Pribilof Islands by the Russians in 1834. Shortly after the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, the U.S. Treasury was authorized to lease sealing privileges on the Pribilofs, which were granted somewhat liberally to the Alaska Commercial Company. From 1870 to 1909, pelagic sealing proceeded to take a significant toll on the fur seal population, such that the Pribilof population, historically numbering on the order of millions of individuals, reached a low of 216,000 animals in 1912.

Significant harvest was more or less arrested with the signing of the [[North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911]] by Great Britain (on behalf of Canada), Japan, Russia, and the United States. The Convention of 1911 remained in force until the onset of hostilities among the signatories during World War II, and is also notable as the first international treaty to address the conservation of wildlife.<ref name="NOAA">{{cite web|url=http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/events/fursealtreaty/welcome.html#treaty|title=North Pacific Fur Seal Treaty of 1911|publisher=[[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]}}</ref> A successive convention was signed in 1957 and amended by a protocol in 1963. "The international convention was put into effect domestically by the Fur Seal Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-702)", said an [[Interior Department]] review of the history.<ref>Baker, R.C., F. Wilke, C.H. Baltzo, 1970. ''The northern fur seal'', U.S. Dep. Int., Fish and Wildlife Service, Circ. 336, overall quote pp. 2–4, 14–17. Quoted on 4th p. of PDF, in [http://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/mfr504/mfr50423.pdf "Fisheries Management: An Historical Overview"] by Clinton E. Atkinson; p. 114 of ''Marine Fisheries Review'' 50(4) 1988.</ref> Currently, a subsistence hunt by the residents of St. Paul Island and an insignificant harvest in Russia are allowed.