10.0 



- 9.0 



5 80 



MALES 



FEMALES 



-NOT HANDLED 

 ESiSa -HANDLED 



MORJOVI 



ZAPADNI 



Figure 12. — Mean weights of handled and unhandled pups, 

 by sex and rookery, St. Paul Island, 30 August 1966. 



MARKING 



Use of permanent marks on fur seals pro- 

 vides data for estimating the size of the popu- 

 lation and for studying age and growth, mor- 

 tality, distribution at sea, homing, and 

 commercial value of the pelts. Application and 

 recovery of marks are discussed in this 

 section. 



APPLICATION 



Monel cattle -ear tags have been used to 

 mark fur seal pups on the Pribilof Islands 

 since 1941 (table A-14) and, more recently, to 

 mark older seals. Because of evidence that 

 cattle-ear tags cause mortality when attached 

 to pups and because the pups tend to lose this 

 type of tag, other marks are being tested. 



Marking in 1966 



Pups of both sexes, yearling males, and 2- 

 to 4-year-old males were marked on the 

 Pribilof Islands in 1966. 



Pups . --We attached single S-series tags to 

 10,000 pups on St. Paul Island and 2,499 pups 

 on St. George Island (tables A-15 and A-16). 

 On St. Paul Island, tags were attached to the 

 rear edge of the right front flipper at the 

 hairline, and the tip of the second digit of the 

 right hind flipper was removed as a check- 

 mark (fig. 13). On St, George Island, tags 

 were attached to the left front flipper at the 

 hairline, and the tip of the same flipper was 

 cut off (fig. 13). Seals that lose their tags can 

 be identified as to the year of birth by these 

 checkmarks. 



Male yearlings . --We attached double IS- 

 series tags to 1,495 males selected as year- 



DIGITS 



FRONT FLIPPER 

 TAGS CLINCHED AT THE HAIRLINE AND BETWEEN THE FOURTH 

 AND THE FIFTH DIGIT 

 MARKS MADE BY CUTTING A V-NOTCH AND REMOVING THE TIP 



DIGITS 

 I (BIG TOE) 



HIND FLIPPER 

 MARK MADE BY REMOVING THE TIP OF THE FIRST DIGIT 



Figure 13. — Examples of mark locations that have been 

 used on fur seals, Pribilof Islands, Alaska. 



lings on St. Paul Island in 1966 (table A-17), 

 Of these, 132 had been tagged or marked as 

 pups on the Pribilof Islands and 4 had been 

 tagged on Medny Island, U.S.S.R. The tags 

 used on male yearlings were attached to the 

 rear edge of the front flippers at the hairline 

 (fig. 13), 



Nylon hoop nets 35.5-45.7 cm. (14-18 

 inches) in diameter mounted on 2.4 m. (8 foot) 



14 



