CLUPEA HAR ENGUS PALLAS I 



ENGRAULIS MORDAX 

 SALMONIDAE 

 MALLOTUS VILLOSUS 

 SEBASTODES SPP 



OCCURRENCE 

 VOLUME 



20 30 



PERCENT 



Figure 15. — Percentage of stomach content volume 

 and percentage occurrence of principal food species 

 in fur seal stomachs collected off Washington in 1969. 



salmonids (fig. 15) . Anchovy, the leading food 

 species with 32.7 percent of the total volume, 

 was followed in importance by rockfish and 

 capelin. Salmonids (16 occurrences), the 

 fourth leading food species, contributed 11.3 

 percent of the total volume. Two species of 

 Pacific salmon (coho, Oncorhynchus kisutch, 

 and chinook, 0. tshawytscha) were identified 

 from their scales. The coho salmon had spent 

 1 year and the chinook salmon 1 or 2 years in 

 the ocean.' 



The locations of principal food species off 

 Washington in February and March 1969, as 

 indicated by the contents of seal stomachs dur- 

 ing this period, are shown in figures 16 to 20. 



Relation of Food of Fur Seals to 

 Commercial Fisheries 



According to our studies, several species of 

 commercially valuable fish have been eaten by 

 fur seals since 1958, and salmon, Oncorhynchus 

 spp., were the most valuable fish taken by this 

 animal off Washington (16 occurrences) in 

 1969. 



The effect of fur seals on commercially im- 

 portant fishes cannot be accurately assessed 

 with our limited knowledge of the ocean en- 

 vironment and its ecology. 



Clifford H. Fiscus and 

 Hiroshi Kajimura 



7 Species and time spent in the ocean were de- 

 termined by Julaine Lyons and Kenneth H. Mosher, 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, Biological Labora- 

 tory, Seattle, Wash. 



SUMMARY 



Pelagic investigations in 1969 were con- 

 ducted in February and March in the eastern 

 North Pacific Ocean off the State of Wash- 

 ington. The objective was to collect data that 

 would show changes, if any, in the distribution 

 of fur seals by sex, age, and time, and to obtain 

 current information on pregnancy rates and 

 food habits. 



Of 1,136 fur seals sighted, 334 were collect- 

 ed, 41 were wounded and lost, and 42 were killed 

 and lost. 



Solitary seals were more prevalent than 

 paired or large groups of animals. 



Fifty-four percent of 299 females killed were 

 from 1 to 7 years old, and 48 yearling seals 

 (17 males and 31 females) from the 1968 year 

 class were taken. 



Of 26 marked seals recovered, 1 female had 

 been tagged on Bering Island, and 3 males and 

 21 females had been tagged and 1 female had 

 had the tip of the first digit on her right hind 

 flipper removed on the Pribilof Islands. 



A primiparous 4-year-old was the youngest 

 and a multiparous 19-year-old the oldest among 

 pregnant females taken; 55 percent of 140 

 fetuses were males and 45 percent were fe- 

 males. Forty-eight percent of the nonpregnant 

 seals 4 to 19 years of age had ovulated. 



Pregnancy rates among females age 5 and 

 older collected off Washington in February and 

 March since 1958 have ranged from 38 to 90 

 percent. 



Of 333 seal stomachs, 190 contained food. 

 Anchovy, the leading food species, was followed 

 in importance by rockfish, capelin, and salmon- 

 ids. 



Salmon were the most valuable of the com- 

 mercial fishes eaten by fur seals off Washington 

 in 1969. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Chapman, Douglas G., and Ancel M. 

 Johnson. 



1968. Estimation of fur seal pup popula- 

 tions by randomized sampling. Trans. 

 Amer. Fish. Soc. 97: 264-270. 



42 



