1965 to maintain the population at the level 

 achieved. 



A total of 10,432 females were taken from 

 the hauling grounds of the Pribilof Islands in 

 1965. Of these, 3,868 were taken during the 

 kill of male seals 7 July to 9 August and 6,564 

 during the special kill of females 16-27 

 August. The female seals killed in 1965 are 

 classified by age in appendix tables 12, 13, 14, 

 and 15. Year class contributions to the kill of 

 females are given in table 4, and the percentage 

 age composition of females sampled from the 

 kills on the Pribilof Islands in 1958-65 are 

 presented in table 5. 



Once the females attain sexual maturity and 

 join the breeding element of the herd, they are 

 subjected to bite wounds from the harem bulls. 

 The resulting scars lessen the commercial 

 value of their skins. Most of the females are 

 initially exposed to scarring at age 5 or 6, when 

 they enter the rookeries to give birth to their 

 first pup. The skins from females age 5 and 



younger, therefore, are more valuable than 

 those from females age 6 and older. 



In addition to being relatively free of scars, 

 females age 5 and younger usually have black 

 or a mixture of black and white vibrissae. By 

 comparison, most females age 6 and older have 

 white vibrissae. Thus, females having the most 

 valuable skins can be selected for killing on the 

 Pribilof Islands on the basis of vibrissal color. 

 In 1965, selection was practiced on St. Paul 

 Island 23-27 August; 88 percent of thefemales 

 taken were age 5 and younger. On St. George 

 Island, where selection was not practiced 16-27 

 August, only 64 percent of the females killed 

 were age 5 and younger. 



Tag Recoveries and Tagging 



Tagging provides marked seals needed for 

 making estimates of the population and fur- 

 nishes seals of known age and origin of birth 

 for studies of age and growth, distribution at 



Table A. — Kill of female seals, by year class, ^ Pribilof Islands, Alaska, 1939-64- 



Year 

 class 



Age in years 



10 



1939 . . . 

 1940... 

 1941... 

 1942... 

 1943 . . . 

 1944... 

 1945 . . . 

 1946... 

 1947... 

 1948 . . . 

 1949 . . . 

 1950... 

 1951... 

 1952 . . . 

 1953... 

 1954... 

 1955... 

 1956... 

 1957... 

 1958 . . . 

 1959... 

 I960.., 

 1961... 

 1962... 

 1963 . . . 

 1964... 



10 



150 

 76 

 27 



120 



37 



7 



26 



12 



1 

 132 



11 

 601 

 281 



79 

 508 

 431 

 724 

 390 

 172 



30 



17 



8 



16 



2,132 



1,150 



11,468 



2,072 



352 



4,651 



4,563 



2,979 



3,434 



1,384 



4 



4 



1 



84 



34 



92 



85 



6,422 



5,806 



8,493 



7,285 



614 



6,912 



8,683 



8,044 



3,409 



2,629 



3 



4 



4 



37 



75 



161 



210 



4,618 



11, 465 



4,056 



3,771 



1,047 



4,520 



6,303 



8,697 



3,626 



1,121 



12 



11 



8 



60 



84 



94 



118 



2,949 



6,343 



3,408 



2,958 



683 



4,810 



3,444 



4,080 



1,914 



621 



15 



8 



9 



45 



54 



46 



77 



2,155 



4,031 



1,328 



3,515 



493 



3,057 



2,869 



1,859 



592 



383 



16 



13 



10 



57 



43 



11 



48 



1,766 



3,550 



654 



1,958 



526 



2,843 



2,809 



97 



42 



33 



7 



7 



41 



43 



11 



38 



1,136 



3,120 



559 



1,289 



492 



3,127 



2,247 



68 



34 



16 



17 

 15 

 15 

 39 

 36 

 10 

 27 

 762 



1,773 

 678 



1,173 

 345 



2,292 



1,687 

 87 

 51 

 16 



■'■ Includes pelagic research kill of the United States and Canada, 1958-65. In addition to the 

 above kill, 50,541 females age 11 and older, 19,978 females age 8 and older, and 6,261 unclassi- 

 fied females were taken. 



