DISTRIBUTION OFF WASHINGTON, 



OREGON, AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 



IN AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 1967 



The Marine Mammal Biological Laboratory- 

 has studied fur seals off the coasts of Washing- 

 ton, Oregon, and California at various times 

 since 1958. The studies were made from late 

 November through mid- June, when the animals 

 are abundant in these waters. We have done 

 little work in coastal waters from July through 

 November because we do not normally expect 

 fur seals there at that time. Several people, 

 however, have seen fur seals off the coastal 

 states during the summer and early autumn. 

 For example, D. W. Rice, a whale biologist for 

 the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, saw a 

 fur seal 30 August 1961 south of San Fran- 

 cisco (approximate lat. 36°58' N. and long. 

 122°58'W.) while aboard a whaling vessel (field 

 notes on file at MMBL). According to Orr and 

 Poulter (1965), James H. Miller (affiliation 

 unknown) saw a fur seal 27 July 1965 on Ano 

 Nuevo Island, Calif., that apparently hauled out 

 and left several times during the day. Peter- 

 son and Gentry 9 saw two adult males on Ano 

 Nuevo Island in 1967, one on 29 July and 

 another for about a week beginning 1 October. 

 Through the cooperation of the Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries, Exploratory Fishing 

 and Gear Research Base, Seattle, Wash., and 

 the Department of Oceanography, Oregon State 

 University, we placed observers aboard their 

 vessels during three cruises in August and 

 September 1967 to determine if fur seals are 

 present then in appreciable numbers in coastal 

 waters. 



No fur seals were sighted 22 August through 

 6 September from the M/V John N. Cobb 10 

 (cruise 89) during 148.5 hours of observations 

 along courses totaling 2,335 km. ( 1,260 nautical 

 miles) off Washington and Oregon when weather 

 and visibility were good (fig. 14). 



We made observations 25-29 August and 

 again 15-22 September from the M/V Ya - 

 quina 11 (fig. 14). Weather and visibility were 

 excellent in August and from 15 to 17 Septem- 

 ber, but poor from 18 to 22 September. No fur 

 seals were seen in August during 44.5 hours 

 of observation along 700.9 km. (378.3 nautical 

 miles) of water between the city of Newport 

 and the Columbia River in Oregon. Two fur 



" R. S. Peterson and R. L. Gentry. 1967. Biological In- 

 vestigations in Ano Nuevo State Reserve, Annual Report 

 1966-67. Division of Natural Sciences, University of Cali- 

 fornia, Santa Cruz. 20 pp. + 7 appendixes. [Processed.] 



10 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Exploratory Fish- 

 ing and Gear Research vessel; registered length 28 m. 

 (93 feet), 345 horsepower, cruising speed 17 km. per 

 hour (9 knots). 



11 Oregon State University research vessel; registered 

 length 55 m. (180 feet), twin 500- horsepower engines, 

 maximum speed 22 km. per hour (12 knots), height of 

 bridge above waterline at eye level -8 m. (26 feet). 



seals were seen in Septe 

 (749.7 nautical miles) 

 servations between Ne 

 Francisco, Calif. One o 

 Canyon (lat. 38°08' N., 

 the other 113 km. (61 

 Point St. George (lat 

 36' W.). Both seals we 

 and were identified a 

 vibrissae. 



mber along 1,389.2 km. 

 during 87 hours of ob- 

 wport, Oreg., and San 

 f these was over Bodega 



long. 123°40' W.) and 

 nautical miles) west of 



41°48' N., long. 125° 

 re sleeping when seen 

 s females with white 



DISTRIBUTION IN THE BERING SEA AND 



NEAR THE EASTERN ALEUTIAN ISLANDS 



IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 1965-66 



The distribution of fur seals in the eastern 

 Bering Sea and in waters near the eastern 

 Aleutian Islands has been recorded at various 

 times between mid- May and early October. 

 In 1955, 12 1958 and 1960 (North Pacific Fur 

 Seal Commission, 1965); 1962 (Fiscus et al., 

 1964), 1963 (Fiscus et al., 1965), and 1964 

 (Fiscus and Kajimura, 1965), halibut schooners 

 and purse seiners, 21 to 24 m. (70-80 feet) 

 long, were used for fur seal investigations in 

 this area during spring and summer. 



Two cruises by Scheffer 13 and Kenyon 14 on 

 the M/V Black Douglas , 45 m. (148 feet) long, 

 from 27 October to 17 November 1947 between 

 Unalaska and Attu, and 26 November to 6 De- 

 cember 1948 (Kenyon and Wilke, 1953; Wilke 

 and Kenyon, 1954) from Unalaska to San Fran- 

 cisco were the only surveys made near the 

 Aleutian Islands in late autumn or winter 

 before 1965. 



In 1965, the Fisheries Research Board of 

 Canada sent the research vessel M/V G^. B. 

 Reed , 54 m. (177 feet) long, to determine if 

 weather would permit sampling of fur seals 

 in autumn and winter. 15 Ian B. MacAskie 

 (FRBC, Biological Station, Nanaimo, British 

 Columbia) supervised the cruise. C. H. Fiscus 

 (Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Marine 

 Mammal Biological Laboratory), accompanied 

 the expedition. The G. B. Reed left Nanaimo 

 on 10 November and returned 12 Decem- 

 ber 1965, working from 18 November to 3 De- 

 cember in waters adjacent to the eastern 



12 Ford Wilke. 1955. Alaska fur seal investigations, 

 Prlbilof Islands, Alaska, 1955. Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries Marine Mammal Biological Laboratory, Seattle, 

 Wash., 46 pp. [Processed.] 



13 Victor B. Scheffer. 1947. Research on fur seals 

 and other marine mammals in 1947; a progress report 

 on Project 80. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Marine 

 Mammal Biological Laboratory, Seattle, Wash., 20 pp. 

 [Manuscript.] 



14 Karl W. Kenyon. 1948. Migration of the Alaska fur 

 seal ( Callorhinus ursinus). Bureau of Commercial Fish- 

 eries Marine Mammal Biological Laboratory, Seattle, 

 Wash., 49 pp. + maps. [Manuscript.] 



15 G. C. Pike, I. B. MacAskie, and A. Craig. 1966. Re- 

 port on Canadian pelagic fur seal research In 1965. Fish- 

 eries Research Board of Canada, Nanaimo, British Colum- 

 bia, 7 pp., tables and appendix. [Processed.] 



33 



