In the late nineteenth century, increasing demand for sealskins by the fashion industry led to an expansion of the seal hunt in the open waters of the Bering Sea. This practice of pelagic sealing was blamed for a severe drop in the population of the north Pacific fur seal herd that bred on the Pribilof Islands off Alaska and was harvested on shore by US interests. US officials began seizing Canadian ships and crews in international waters in contravention of the accepted principle of freedom of the high seas. After years of diplomatic stalemate and jingoistic sabre rattling, the United States and Great Britain, which still controlled Canadian foreign affairs, agreed to put the legality of the seizures before an international tribunal. The so-called Bering Sea Arbitration, held in Paris in 1893, built on the legacy of the Alabama Claims Arbitration from twenty years earlier and was a major step in Canada’s emergence as a fully independent nation with Canadians playing significant roles as arbitrator, counsel, and agent. The tribunal found the seizures contrary to international law and also found that, while the seals bred on US soil, the United States had no property rights in them. However, to restrict the size and scope of the seal hunt as a means of preserving the species from extinction, the tribunal also set down regulations that are now seen as an early foundation of modern environmental law.