2. The peak of the kill occurred during 

 round 7 (27-31 July) when 6,550 males were 

 taken on St. Paul Island. The predicted male 

 kill on St. Paul Island by 5 August 1964 

 included 24,000 of age 3 and 13,000 of age 4. 

 Actual kills were 22,203 and 10,509 of ages 

 3 and 4, respectively. The predicted male kill 

 as of 5 August 1964 includes 4,000 of ages 2 

 and 5, 33,000 of age 3, and 16,000 of age 4. 



3. Harem bulls counted 10-17 July 1964 

 decreased by 2 percent of the 1963 count, and 

 idle bulls were 10 percent less. Counts in 

 1964 were 11,074 harem and 8,584 idle. 



4. Tags and checkmarks recovered from 

 4-year-old male seals in 1964 yielded an 

 estimate of 614,580 pups of the 1960 year 

 class alive at the time of tagging. Based on 

 tags and checkmarks from 3-year-old male 

 seals, there were 494,724 pups alive at the 

 time of tagging in 1961. 



5. Based on tag recoveries at age 3 in 1964 

 from male seals tagged as yearlings in 1962, 

 an estimated 80,211 male seals of the 1961 

 year class survived to age 1. 



6. Exclusive of pups that diedbefore shear- 

 ing, marked to unmarked ratios obtained from 

 shearing the heads of 27,716 pups and subse- 

 quent sampling yielded an estimate of 353,000 

 pups born on the Pribilof Islands in 1964. 

 Total counts of live pups on three rookeries 

 and a portion of a fourth supported the esti- 

 mates. 



Females : 



1. Of 16,452 female seals killed on the 

 Pribilof Islands in 1964, 14,602 were taken 

 during the female kill 14-28 August and 1,850 

 were taken during the male kill from 1 July 

 to 7 August. Seventy-two percent were in ages 

 2-5, and 28 percent were age 6 and older. Age 

 classification of the kill was based ona collec- 

 tion of 3,034 right upper canine teeth. Females 

 having black or a mixture of black and white 

 vibrissae were selected for killing; most 

 females having white vibrissae were allowed to 

 escape. 



2. There was little difference in the age 

 composition of females taken from traditional 

 male hauling grounds, from rookery fringes, 

 or from mixed areas. 



3. Of 147 3-year-old females examined, 

 none had given birth to pups in 1964 or 

 previously. Three of 73 4-year-old females 

 were primiparous -and post partum. 



4. Pup populations estimated from tags and 

 checkmarks recovered from females were 

 604,546 for the I960 year class at the time 

 of tagging and 473,131 for 1961. 



Tag Recoveries and Tagging: 



1. The kill in 1964 included 4,205 seals 

 tagged as pups and 1,890 with checkmarks 

 only. In addition, 45 Soviet-tagged seals were 

 taken, and 302 seals selected and tagged as 

 yearlings in previous years were recovered. 



2. A total of 24,991 pups were tagged on 

 the right fore flipper with Q-series tags. 

 The tip of the same flipper was sliced off as 

 a checkmark. 



3. Three counts of yearlings tagged as pups 

 in 1963 were made from 24 September to 

 8 October on nine sample areas on St. Paul 

 Island. The counts may make possible an index 

 to survival from birth to age 1 and assist in 

 predicting the return of 3-year-old male seals 

 2 years later. 



Mortality : Pup mortality on land decreased 

 to 25,042 in 1964 from 39,239 in 1963. The 

 1964 level was the lowest recorded since the 

 beginning of complete dead-pup counts in 

 1953. 



Seal-pup Weights : Weights of 1,191 pups 

 showed that tagged males and females weighed 

 1.10 and 0.92 kg. less than untagged males 

 and females. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The research staff appreciates the coopera- 

 tion given them by C. Howard Baltzo, Program 

 Director; Howard Euneau, St. Paul Island 

 Manager; Roy D. Hurd, St. George Island 

 Manager; Bertel W. Johnson, Management 

 Staff Officer; and Richard A. Hajny, Wildlife 

 Management Biologist, Pribilof Islands. 



LITERATURE CITED 



KENYON, KARL W., VICTOR B. SCHEFFER, 

 and DOUGLAS G. CHAPMAN. 

 1954. A population study of the Alaska fur- 

 seal herd. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serv- 

 ice, Special Scientific Report-- Wildlife 

 No. 12, 77 p. 



ROPPEL, ALTON Y., ANCEL M. JOHNSON, 

 RICHARD D. BAUER, DOUGLAS G. 

 CHAPMAN, and FORD WILKE. 

 1963. Fur seal investigations, Pribilof Is- 

 lands, Alaska, 1962. U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, Special Scientific Re- 

 port—Fisheries No. 454, 101 p. 



ROPPEL, ALTON Y., ANCEL M. JOHNSON, 

 and DOUGLAS G. CHAPMAN. 

 1965. Fur seal investigations, Pribilof Is- 

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

 Wildlife Service, Special Scientific Re- 

 port--Fisheries No. 497, 60 p. 



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