Research 



On their respective islands the United States 

 and the U.S.S.R. carry on research programs 

 that emphasize population dynamics. Tagging, 

 tag recovery, kill records by age and sex, and 

 studies of mortality and reproduction are all 

 essential to understanding fur seal populations. 

 In addition, research on growth, pelage and other 

 anatomical features, behavior, and parasitism 

 and other infections are underway or completed. 



Canada, Japan, the U.S.S.R., and the United 

 States cooperate in a widespread investigation of 

 the ocean life of fur seals. The distribution, 

 ocean abundance, food habits, and intermingling 

 of seals of different origins are studied. 



Most of the investigations are of aid to man- 

 agement, certain broad principles of animal pop- 

 ulations are being tested, and zoological knowledge 

 of marine mammals is increased. 



Sealing Activity on the Pribilof Islands 



The harem or rookery areas and adjacent 

 hauling grounds of the bachelors and idle bulls 

 are situated at widely separated points along the 

 southern and eastern beaches of St. Paul Island 

 and along the northern and western shores of 

 St. George Island. Owing, in part at least, to 

 the high bluffs characteristic of St. George 

 Island, only about 20 percent of the herd fre- 

 quents the limited beach areas of that island. 



The greater part of the herd congregates on 

 the low-lying beaches of St. Paul Island, 40 miles 

 to the north. A few thousand fur seals haul 

 out on Sea Lion Rock, off the southern tip of St. 

 Paul Island. For convenience in administration, 

 the hauling grounds are divided into five groups 

 on St. Paul Island and four on St. George Island. 

 On each island during the sealing season the 

 hauling grounds are worked in rotation. 



The labor required in the taking of sealskins 

 and the year-round maintenance of two Govern- 

 ment stations on the islands is supplied by the 

 native Aleut inhabitants who are employees of 

 the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. During the 

 summer season the local labor supply is supple- 



mented by Aleut workmen from the Aleutian 

 Islands. 



On a typical day in the sealing season, a crew 

 of 20 to 50 Aleut sealers proceeds in trucks from 

 the village to the hauling ground. Leaving their 

 trucks, the sealers cautiously work their way up- 

 wind along the beach between the bachelor seals 

 and the water. With the line of escape to the 

 sea cut off, it is an easy matter to surround several 

 hundred to several thousand seals and drive them 

 slowly inland a short distance to the grass-cov- 

 ered killing field. Two or three Aleut boys pro- 

 vide the only guard necessary to prevent a stam- 

 pede of the animals back to the beach and the 

 open sea. 



The sealing crew is well-trained and clubbers 

 are adept at selecting animals of commercial size. 

 The work is efficiently organized and carefully 

 supervised. One small group of seals after an- 

 other is separated from the main group. Seals 

 judged to be less than 41 inches, or of poor 

 pelage quality are permitted to return to the 

 beach. Animals of the desired size are quickly 

 and humanely dispatched with a single blow on 

 the head from a hardwood pole. 



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