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populations are located on South Georgia, Sandwich and 

 Bouvetoya Islands, and smaller ones on the South Shetland, 

 South Orkney, Kerguelen, and Heard Islands (Bonner, 1976). 



2) Movements 



Movement patterns for southern fur seals are relatively 

 unknown (Bonner, 1976) . They remain on island beaches during 

 the pupping/mating season (September to April) and then 

 return to open ocean, remaining there until the next reproduc- 

 tive season. It is not known if post-reproductive season 

 movements are a directional migration or simple dispersal. 

 Both subspecies are polygamous with 5 to 15 females per 

 harem. Non-breeding males sometimes occupy the periphery 

 of the breeding colony or do not even return to breeding 

 areas. Males are most commonly sighted at sea, but recently 

 established colonies give evidence that females disperse 

 through open water to new localities. In general, fur 

 seal abundance has increased in the last fifty years and 

 their range has extended (Bonner, 1976) . Laws (1977a) 

 suggested that the recent fur seal increases may be in 

 response to increased krill abundance resulting from reduced 

 whale stocks. 



3) Standing Stock 



Ar otocephalus gazella ; With pre-exploitation estimates 

 of 1 to 2 million seals, the 197 3 population estimate was 

 200,000 (Bonner, 1976), the majority being on South Georgia. 

 The 1930 South Georgia population of 100 seals had, by 1957, 

 increased to 15,000. The present population estimate is 

 350,000 (Payne, 1977), and current annual pup production is 

 about 90,000. 



Twenty-three years after sighting the first fur seal 

 on South Ornkney Island since fur seal over-exploitation, 

 the total 1971 population (primarily males) was over 2,000 

 seals (Laws, 1973) . 



A substantial population increase has been observed in 

 the South Shetland Islands. Aguayo and Torres (1966) re- 

 corded 200 fur seals on Livingston Island and 300 seals on 

 Elephant, Cornwallis, and Clarence Islands. Erickson et al. 

 (1970) reported about 200 seals at Cape Shireff (of which 

 27 were pups) . On South Shetland Island, 400 fur seals 

 were reported by O ' Gorman in 1960 and two years later 800 

 to 900 were counted by Holdgate (1963) . At Bouvet, 

 Holdate et al. (1968) recorded 500 seals and estimated 

 annual pup production at 150 to 180 pups for the 1964 season. 

 On Kerguelen Island, Paulian (1952) recorded the first fur 



