Bering Sea Dispute

Bering Sea Dispute

Dispute between the U.S. and Britain (and Canada) over the international status of the Bering Sea. In an attempt to control seal hunting off the Alaskan coast, the U.S. in 1881 claimed authority over the Bering Sea and the right to seize sealing vessels. When several Canadian ships were seized in the late 1880s, Britain protested the U.S. claim. An agreement in 1891 permitted both countries to police the area. In 1893 an international tribunal determined that the area was part of the high seas and that no nation had jurisdiction over it.