16,000 of age 4; actual kills to 9 August were 

 19,009 and 12,046, respectively. The predicted 

 kill of males on St. Paul Island in 1966 in- 

 cludes 3,000 of ages 2 and 5, 26,000 of age 3, 

 and 14,000 of age 4. 



3, Harem and idle bulls counted 10-18 July 

 were 8,553 and 5,616 on St. Paul Island, and 

 1,917 and 1,113 on St. George Island. 



Females 



1. A total of 10,432 females were takenfrom 

 the hauling grounds of the Pribilof Islands in 

 1965--3,868 during the kill of males 7 July to 

 9 August and 6,564 during the kill of females 

 16-27 August. St. Paul Island contributed 7, 530, 

 and St. George Island, 2,902. Selective killing 

 for young females on St. Paul Island 23-27 

 August produced 3,435 (88 percent) in ages 

 2-5 and 456 age 6 and older. Nonselective 

 killing for young females on St. George Island 

 16-27 August produced 1,708 (64 percent) in 

 ages 2-5 and 965 age 6 and older. 



2. Of 65 3-year-old females examined, none 

 had given birth; 1 of 51 4-year-old females 

 was primiparous and recently postpartum. 



Tag Recoveries and Tagging 



1. The kill in 1965 included 3,199 seals 

 tagged as pups and 1,748 with checkmarks 

 only. In addition, 36 Soviet-tagged seals were 

 taken, and 238 seals selected and tagged as 

 yearlings in previous years were recovered. 



2. Ten thousand pups were tagged on the 

 left front flipper with an R-series tag, and a 

 V-notch checkmark was cut into the leading 

 edge of the same flipper near the tip. In addi- 

 tion, 10,080 pups were marked only by re- 

 nnoving the tip of the first digit (big toe) of the 

 right hind flipper, and 10,007 were marked 

 only by cutting a V-notch into the leading edge 

 of the right front flipper near the tip. 



3. A total of 922 seals selected as year- 

 lings on the basis of body length were double- 

 tagged, one tag (IR-series) to each front 

 flipper; 69 yearlings tagged as pups in 1964 

 were recaptured in 1965 and given an additional 

 tag. 



Pup Mortality 



Counts of dead pups in late August were 

 41,080 on St. Paul Island and 5,228 on St. 

 George Island. 



Pup Weights 



Weights of 1,193 pups showed that untagged 

 and unmarked males and females weighed 1.14 

 and 1.04 kg. more than tagged and marked 

 males and females in 1965, Six hundred pups 

 that were marked only weighed less than un- 

 tagged and unmarked pups but more than 

 tagged and marked pups. 



Population Estimates 



1. On the basis of tag recoveries from 

 males and the number of dead pups counted on 

 the rookeries, 560,000 pups were born on the 

 Pribilof Islands in 1961 and 500,000 in 1962. 



2. Including estimated mortality before 

 shearing, marked-to-unmarked ratios obtained 

 from shearing and sampling pups yielded an 

 estimate of 347,000 pups born on the Pribilof 

 Islands in 1965. 



3. Estimates of the pup population for dif- 

 ferent year classes, based on tag recoveries 

 from females, were: year class 1960--344, 

 107; 1961--527, 482; and 1962-- 337,012, 



4. On the basis of recoveries of seals tagged 

 as yearlings, yearling males were estimated 

 at 78,000 in 1961 and 85,000 in 1962, 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The research staff had the cooperation of 

 C. Howard Baltzo, Program Director; Howard 

 Euneau, St. Paul Island Manager; RoyD.Hurd, 

 St. George Island Manager; Bertel W. Johnson, 

 Management Staff Officer; and Richard A, 

 Hajny, Wildlife Management Biologist, Pribilof 

 Islands. Victor Misiken, Sealer III Foreman, 

 and Alex Melovidov, Sealer I Foreman, also 

 gave assistance. 



LITERATURE CITED 



KENYON, KARL W., VICTOR B. SCHEFFER, 

 and DOUGLAS G. CHAPMAN. 

 1954. A population study of the Alaska fur- 

 seal herd. Fish Wildl, Serv., Spec.Sci. 

 Rep. Wildl. 12, vi + 77 p. 

 PETERSON, RICHARD S, 



1965. Behavior of the northern fur seal, 

 Johns Hopkins University, D.Sc, thesis, 

 214 p. [Processed.] 

 ROPPEL, ALTON Y., ANCEL M. JOHNSON, 

 RICHARD D. BAUER, DOUGLAS G. 

 CHAPMAN, and FORD WILKE. 

 1963. Fur seal investigations, Pribilof 

 Islands, Alaska, 1962. U.S. Fish Wildl. 

 Serv., Spec, Sci. Fep. Fish, 454, 

 vi + 101 p, 

 ROPPEL, ALTON Y., ANCEL M. JOHNSON, 

 and DOUGLAS G. CHAPMAN. 

 1965. Fur seal investigations, Pribilof Is- 

 lands, Alaska, 1963. U.S. Fish Wildl, 

 Serv., Spec. Sci. Rep. Fish. 497, v +60 p. 

 ROPPEL, ALTON Y., ANCEL M. JOHNSON, 

 RAYMOND E. ANAS, and DOUGLAS 

 G. CHAPMAN. 

 1965. Fur seal investigations, Pribilof Is- 

 lands, Alaska, 1964. U.S. Fish Wildl, 

 Serv,, Spec, Sci, Rep, Fish, 502, v + 46 p, 

 SCHEFFER, VICTOR B., and ANCEL M. 

 JOHNSON. 

 1963. Molt in the northern fur seal. U.S. 

 Fish Wildl. Serv., Spec. Sci. Rep. Fish. 

 450, iv + 34 p. 



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