Excerpt from History of Scientific Study and Management of the Alaskan Fur Seal, Callorhinus Ursinus, 1786-1964 Nevertheless, the managing agency - the u.s. Department of the Interior4 - will continue to be faced with problems of a diplomatic nature rising from the fact that all Alaskan fur seals feed at times in international waters. A few actually land on foreign soil. Research on the Alaskan seal population has been carried out since the early 1890's on efforts to manage it, not only as a national but also as an international resource. The Department can also expect to face local problems ris ing from the fact that the welfare of seals and the welfare of people are not always compatible. Certain areas of conflict are illustrated by the following questions: Is predation by seals upon commercial fishes of the eastern North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea economically important? Should tourism to the seal-breeding grounds be encouraged? How can the future livelihood of the people of the Pribilof Islands be ensured when their population is outgrowing its local base of support (the seal harvest)? What should be the respective roles of the Federal Government and the State of Alaska in conserving the seal herd? The purpose of the present history is to trace the evolution of zoological research on the fur seals, to discuss the origin and development of research ideas and techniques, and to point out the contributions of research to the present manage ment structure. In discussing past research, we will describe not only scientific studies but also changes in fur seal manage ment and fur seal legislation which have, from time to time, made the studies necessary. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.