B-5 offers little protection if the hunters lose 

 their balance. Sealing is, therefore, lim- 

 ited to periods of favorable weather when the 

 hunters are able to stand on the platform to 

 shoot. 



During the approach to a seal, a lookout 

 standing behind the gunners controls the direc- 

 tion of the vessel by arm signals to the helms- 

 man and the speed by signals to the engine- 

 room. The ship, which is normally steered 

 with the conventional ship's wheel from the 

 pilothouse, is manually steered during sealing 

 by two men with a tiller attached directly to 

 the rudder. Tiller steering is quicker, making 

 the vessel more maneuverable than when under 

 conventional steering (fig. B-6). 



A 15- to 18-foot bamboo pole with a four- 

 pronged gaff on one end and a long line on the 

 other (fig. B-7) is used to recover dead fur 

 seals, A deckhand throws the retrieving pole 

 toward the seal, drags it over the seal until 

 the skin is hooked, and then pulls the animal 

 aboard. The seal is normally recovered while 

 the vessel runs at reduced speed. This method 

 of recovering seals is very efficient but re- 

 quires great skill, attained only after many 

 years of experience. Seven of the crew mem- 

 bers on the Nikko Maru have sailed on this 

 vessel for the past 14 years; vessel per- 

 sonnel has changed little during 8 consecu- 

 tive years of pelagic fur seal research. The 

 long experience of the crew working as a 

 unit has contributed much to the vessel's 

 nnarked success in sealing. The numbers of 

 seals seen and collected by the Nikko Maru , 

 from 10 April to 10 May 1965, are shown in 

 table B-2. 



Figure B-7. — Deckhands ready to throw retrieving pole to 

 recover dead seal. 



Table B-2, --Number of seals seen and collected 

 by the Nikko Maru , 10 April to 10 May 1965 



Figure B-6. — The tiller, located on the stern, improves 

 the maneuverability of the vessel. 



Field Data Collection Methods 



Preliminary data taken for each fur seal 

 brought aboard the vessels were: time seal 

 was sighted and brought aboard vessel; number 

 of seals in a group; and behavior (swimming 

 or sleeping). 



As soon as a seal is brought aboard the 

 vessel, the surface water temperature is 

 recorded (as read directly off a temperature 

 gage mounted in the pilothouse) and a num- 

 bered plastic tag is affixed on the front flipper 

 for identification. 



Each animal is measured (from tip of snout 

 to tip of tail) on a calibrated measuring board 



36 



