canine teeth. The weight and volume of the 

 stomach contents were determined, and food 

 items were identified and counted. 



Records on seven fennale seals (six from 

 California and one from Bering Sea) collected 

 in 1964, for which data are incomplete, are 

 included in the section on distribution of seals 

 by date and locality, but are excluded from 

 other sections of this report. 



The chartered purse seine vessel, M/V 

 Harmony , ^ began sealing off Cape Flattery, 

 Wash., on 7 April 1964, sailed south to 

 California waters, remained there until 28 May, 

 and then sailed north to conclude the spring 

 season off Cape Flattery 1 June. Observa- 

 tions and collections were made off Washington 

 on 7-8 April, 31 May, and 1 June; off Oregon 

 on 9-10 April, and 29-30 May; and off Cali- 

 fornia on 1 1 April to 28 May. The Harmony 

 left Seattle, Wash., 22 June for Unalaska 

 Island, Alaska, where work in Bering Sea 

 was started 4 July and concluded 8 September. 

 The vessel returned to Seattle on 20 September. 



Biologists aboard the Harmony were Clif- 

 ford H. Fiscus and Hiroshi Kajimura, and 

 during the spring field season, Gary A. Baines . 

 Assistants on the vessel were George F. 

 Rohrmann (spring) and Stanley B. Phillips 

 and Richard K. Stroud (summer); Robert L. 

 DeLong assisted in the analysis of data at the 

 Bureau's Marine Mammal Laboratory in 

 Seattle. 



RESEARCH IN 1964 



Distribution of Seals by Date and Locality 



Washington, Oregon, and California .- -Seals 

 were seen during each of the 4 days spent off 

 Washington. Forty-nine seals were seen in 

 the vicinity of Umatilla Reef on 7 April (seals 

 are usually found in this locality when present 

 off Washington), and five were seen on 8 April. 

 Only 13 seals were counted in the same waters 

 on 31 May and 1 June, despite excellent 

 weather. 



Along the Oregon coast, 2 seals were seen 

 on 9 April and 16 on 10 April; none were seen 

 on 29 May and only 1 on 30 May. Weather 

 conditions were poor for sealing on 9 April 

 and 29 May. 



Off California, the Harmony ran south to 

 lat. 350O6' N., long. 129049' W., about 50 miles 

 west of Pt. San Luis. Known sealing grounds 

 were searched from 11 to 15 April, but 

 few seals were sighted. Ten were seenbetween 

 Cape San Martin and Pt. San Luis on 14 April, 

 in ideal weather. In 1959 and 1961, this area 

 was part of the major wintering ground; large 

 numbers were usually here during January, 

 February, and March. 



Dates of other observations and collections 

 off California were (see fig. 1 for location of 

 grounds): Farallon grounds -- 18- 19, and 23-28 

 April and 1-2, 8, and 23-24 May: Eureka 

 grounds--12, 15-17, 19, 25, and 27-28 May. 

 Distribution on these grounds was restricted 

 to a smaller area, and generally fewer seals 

 were present in April and May than during 

 January, February, and March in 1958, 1959, 

 and 1961.' Many seals were still present, 

 however, on the last day of observations in 

 each area. On 8 May, 121 seals were seen on 

 the Farallon grounds, and on 15 May, 128 seals 

 were counted off Eureka. These were the two 

 highest daily counts off California in 1964. The 

 distribution of seals observed and collected 

 is shown in figures 1 and 2. 



Surface water temperatures varied from 9"^ 

 to 13° C. off California, 10° to 13° C. off 

 Oregon, and 9° to 12° C. off Washington. 



Bering Sea. --To identify localities of ob- 

 servation and collection, the eastern Bering 

 Sea was divided into six sectors centered 

 between St. Paul and St. George Islands, as 

 described by Fiscus, Baines, and Kajimura 

 (1965). Each sector was subdivided into con- 

 centric zones, 30 nautical miles wide, that 

 extended to the sector boundaries (fig. 3). 

 Sectors are numbered fronn 1 to 6, and the 

 zones from 1 to 10 (sector boundaries do not 

 extend into zone 1, at the center of the area). 

 The number of boat-hunting days, the total 

 number of seals seen, and the total num- 

 ber of seals collected are shown in each 

 zone. 



On 4 July, the Harmony sailed west from Cape 

 Cheerful, Unalaska Island, towards Seguam 

 Island. When work north of Seguam Island was 

 curtailed by weather, the vessel returned east- 

 ward. Only 47 seals were sighted during the 

 4-day trip. This number was low because of 

 unfavorable weather west of Islands of Four 

 Mountains, as well as scarcity of seals. 



During the remainder of July, the vessel 

 surveyed the known fur seal feeding grounds 

 between Cape Cheerful and the Akun-Unimak 

 Pass areas of Bering Sea, in sector 1, zone 7. 

 The vessel sealed in this zone again on 7-8 

 September. Fur seals were fewer in this zone 

 in 1964 than in 1962 (Fiscus, Baines, and 

 Wilke, 1964) or 1963 (Fiscus, Baines, and 

 Kajimura, 1965). In 1963, for example, 99.6 

 seals were sighted per boat-hunting day, as 

 compared to 25.6 in 1964. 



During August the Harmony surveyed dis- 

 tribution and feeding areas within a radius of 

 about 70 miles of St. Paul Island. The distri- 

 bution of seals near the Pribilof Islands, in 

 zone 1, and zones 2 and 3 of all sectors, 

 appeared to be comparable to that observed in 



■"■M/V Harmony; registered length 70.5feet, 61 nettons, 

 220 horsepower, cruising speed 9 knots (frontispiece). 



2 North Pacific Fur Seal Commission Report on Investi- 

 gations from 1958 to 1961. 



