A short-lived pelagic fur seal fishery developed around the Falkland Islands and Dependencies at the beginning of the twentieth century. Canadian sealing vessels were the most active, followed by those from southern Chile. Both contributed to the further stock decline and delayed the renewal of a domestic onshore industry. As one commentator put it:

Commercial pelagic fur sealing by Canadians began around 1868 with crews from British Columbia catching northern fur seals off the Pribilof Islands. The animals were shot from dories working away from the parent schooner. The ease with which the seals could be killed and the large numbers of wounded animals (fifty to sixty percent) were major factors in the decline of the stock to some 237,000 by 1910, when sealing was suspended temporarily. The potential for large catches and significant profits increased the demand for new vessels, available more cheaply in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick than in British Columbia. The first Atlantic Canadian-built schooner to round Cape Horn for British Columbia was Pathfinder (Capt. O'Leary), which arrived in Victoria in April 1886. Its crew saw many fur seals swimming off the Cape, and as did their counterparts on vessels that followed, quickly realized that these could be a valuable source of income. They may also have learned of the southern stock from New England mariners who had sailed in the region. The large catches in the Bering Sea, however, probably made it unnecessary to hunt them until catches began to decrease in the late nineteenth century.

The first Canadian vessel to catch fur seals in southern waters was probably the Lunenburg-built Director (Capt. Frederick W. Gilbert) of the Victoria Sealing Co., which left Halifax for Victoria in December 1894. Gilbert made for the Falklands for provisions and took 620 fur seal skins, arriving in Victoria in May 1895.