The old London terminology for finished sealskin grades 

 was abandoned in 1918 in favor of the present one (Bower 

 1919:97). A "Middling Pup" skin, for example, became a 

 "Medium." 



In 1917, Arnold C. Reynolds and G. Dallas Hanna mea- 

 sured the space occupied by breeding seals on the Pribilofs 

 (Hanna 1918:112). They proposed to establish a "square feet 

 per breeding seal" ratio which could be used in the future as a 

 census tool when the pups would become too numerous to 

 count. Their estimate of the number of breeding seals was 

 based on two fallacies: That the pregnancy rate is 100% and 

 that the female is first bred at age 2. The sizes of the rookery 

 areas in 1917 were: 1,354,546 ft- (125,841 m') on St. Paul Is- 

 land; 172,305 ft' (16,008 m') on St. George Island; and a total 

 on both of 1,526,851 ft' (141,849 m'). The areas of St. Paul 

 represented 89%, those on St. George 11%, of the total. In 

 1949, Kenyon et al. (1954:28) computed the rookery areas 

 from aerial photographs at 3,566,519 ft' (331,340 m'), or more 

 than twice the 1915 value. The St. Paul-to-St. George ratio in 

 1949 was 81 to 19. 



By 1917 the pups had become so numerous that they could 

 be counted on only 1 1 of the 22 rookeries. Through strenuous 

 effort they were counted in 1922 on all rookeries; this was the 

 last complete count. 



The age composition of a kill was first estimated in 1917 

 (Hanna 1918:118). The estimate was based on body length 

 measurements of branded, known-age seals. The all-summer 

 kill in 1917 included: 3-yr-olds, 57%; 4-yr-olds, 32%; and 

 other ages, 11%. From an old photograph we learn that Han- 

 na constructed in 1915 the wooden calipers which were first 

 used in 1918 for measuring seals on the killing field and were 

 last u,sed in 1961. After 1961, the practice of measuring seals 

 was abandoned and the method of estimating their ages on the 

 basis of tooth-layer counts was accepted and used. 



All of the Pribilof rookeries were photographed at the peak 

 of the breeding season in mid-summer 1895 and in at least 5 

 other years: by Lembkey in 1905 (Lembkey 1905, 

 1905(1911):178); by Hanna in 1917 (Bower and AUer 1918:97); 

 and by Johnston in 1922 (Bower 1923:111), 1925 (Bower 

 1926: 1 16), and 1948 (Thompson 1952a:45). The first series was 

 reproduced in Townsend's 1896 report (Part 2-Atlas). Photo- 

 prints of the 1905 and 1948 series are filed in the Marine Mam- 

 mal Biological Laboratory in Seattle. We do not know whether 

 photographs taken in other years have survived. Originally, 

 the intent was to photograph the rookeries at approximately 

 5-yr intervals from the camera stations established in the 

 1890's (Hanna 1918:97; Johnston 1923:111; Bower 1928:153). 

 The photographs were a useful record of changes in the seal 

 population from 1895 to about 1940, when the herd ceased to 

 grow. Today, there is less reason to continue the program of 

 photographing from prescribed camera stations, and more 

 reason for exploring the possibility of aerial photography, fol- 

 lowed by area mapping of the rookeries from vertical views. 



Preble and McAtee (1923:117-118) gave numerous records 

 of killer whales seen from 1875 to 1917. One killer whale seen 

 off the Reef on 2 December 1902 "was playing havoc with a 

 band of seals." At Northeast Point on 6 November 1904 

 "fragments of both cows and pups, the work of killer whales, 

 were found strewn along the beach." Evidence of predation by 

 killer whales upon seals has not, we believe, been reported 

 since 1917. We conclude that killer whales have not changed 



their habits, but that Pribilof residents now spend less time 

 watching the beaches than they used to. 



Experiments in the use of seal by-products were conducted 

 in 1917 during a wartime economy (Bower and Aller 

 1918:84-86). Bones, intestines, blubber oil, flipper gelatine, 

 salted shoulders, and other products were examined. (A brief 

 history of the use of by-products has been written by Baker 

 1950.) The first unit of a reduction plant was built on St. Paul 

 Island in late 1918, to prepare meal and oil from seal carcasses 

 (Bower 1919:83). It was operated in most years from 1919 to 

 1961 and converted into a freezer plant in 1964. 



In 1917 dogs were prohibited on the Pribilofs (Bower 

 1919:107). This was presumably a reaffirmation of the ban of 

 1869 or 1870. Further to avoid disturbing the seals, sight-see- 

 ing trips to the rookeries and hauling grounds were first 

 regulated in 1920. "Observation Rock," on Gorbatch, still 

 marked by a painted arrow, was designated as a place where 

 visitors might watch the seals (Bower 1921:73). 



The Fur Seal Treaty of 1911 was slated to be reviewed in 

 1926. Partly to stimulate public discussion of a new treaty, five 

 concerned naturalists of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science formed, on 4 August 1921, a "Commit- 

 tee on Conservation of Marine Life of the Pacific" (Hanna 

 1922; Evermann 1922; Hanna footnote 9, p. 46; Nelson 1923). 

 The Committee was later enlarged to 17. It recommended 1) 

 that all maritime nations be parties to the treaty, 2) that pelagic 

 sealing against both northern and southern fur seals be banned 

 in all seas of the world, 3) that the clause permitting aborigines 

 to kill seals be dropped, 4) that sealskin harvests on land not be 

 shared by party nations, and 5) that all marine mammals and 

 birds of the Pacific be protected by treaty. To date (1965) none 

 of the recommendations has been acted upon. 



When commercial killing was resumed in 1918, the Bureau 

 of Fisheries took 34,890 skins, the greatest annual harvest in 29 

 yr. Faced with technological problems, the Bureau hired 

 William P. Zschorna in 1919 to make a study of killing, cur- 

 ing, and processing skins. (Zschorna was later employed by the 

 fur processing companies.) During the period 1919-22, three 

 important changes were introduced (Bower 1920:77, 1921:75, 

 1922:54-55 and figs. 16, 17). First, skins were blubbered on the 

 islands rather than at the St. Louis factory. Second, skins were 

 washed and cooled in seawater rather than being placed, dirty 

 from the field, into salt. Third, "stripping" replaced "knife 

 skinning." Although "Old Jake Kochutin could skin a seal in 

 less than two minutes" (Hanna footnote 9, p. 119), the new 

 method of jerking the skin off the body was much faster, re- 

 quiring only 10-15 s. We do not know when the special tongs 

 now used in stripping were introduced. They have been im- 

 proved several times; they are not patented. As late as 1943, a 

 few skins were still being removed by knife (Bower 1944b:41). 



As a result of the harvest of oversize males or "halfbulls" in 

 1918-20, many enormous skins were placed on sale. It is of 

 historical interest to read that "the average price obtained for 

 the entire take of bulls, including the minimum of 50C and the 

 maximum of $169.00, was about $46.00 per skin" (G. Donald 

 Gibbins, Fouke Fur Company, in letter of 13 October 1923 to 

 G. Dallas Hanna). 



During the closed season on commercial killing from 1912 to 

 1917, surplus male seals accumulated on the breeding grounds. 

 Until their numbers were reduced, starting in 1918, they ex- 

 erted a depressing effect on the size of the average harem. That 

 is, "bull pressure" reduced the number of breeding cows that 



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