skin-curing facilities. The smaller male kill 

 in 1957 allowed a kill of 47,413 females by 

 20 August, Some of the larger females were 

 allowed to escape. A minimum length of 104.1 

 centimeters (41 inches) and a maximum kill 

 of 50,000 animals were the only restrictions 

 on the taking of females in 1956 and 1957. 

 Because it was learned that many of the skins 

 from females age 6 and older were of low 

 quality, excessive numbers of large, scarred 

 females were avoided in 1958 by imposing 

 length limits of from 104.1 to 120.6 centimeters 

 (41 to 45 3/4 inches). Within these limits, 

 31,102 females were taken without difficulty 

 by 20 August. A compromise between the need 

 for obtaining commercially acceptable skins 

 and the need for herd reduction resulted in 

 the 1959 plan to take 50,000 females with as 

 many as possible to be less than 46 inches 

 in length. The actual kill was 28,064 by 20 

 August, of which 72 percent were less than 

 46 inches in length. A comparative figure of 

 58 percent less than 46 inches in length for 

 the reasonably unrestricted 1957 kill suggests 

 that several hundred additional females 46 

 inches and longer were available through 20 

 August 1959. Thus, an average of 32,314 

 females was taken by 20 August in each of 

 the first 4 years despite varying restrictions 

 and conditions that curtailed the kill to some 

 extent. 



Partly because of an extremely low male 

 kill and partly because comparative photo- 

 graphs suggested significant decreases since 

 1949 in occupied rookery areas, a field deci- 

 sion was made in 1960 to limit the female kill 

 of that year to 350 per day for research pur- 

 poses. The resulting kill of only 4, 31 5 females 

 should have allowed substantial increases in 

 the availability of females in 1961 and 1962. 

 However, this was not the case. Although 

 established quotas of 43,750 females for each 

 of these years were fulfilled, September re- 

 duction kills from 9 to 10 days were necessary 

 in addition to the kill ending 15 August in 1961 

 and 24 August in 1962. 



Methods Used in Current Studies 



The female kill is sampled similarly to the 

 male kill except that age is correlated with the 

 reproductive condition of each female sampled. 



As with males, age classification of the sample 

 is projected to the total kill of females to ob- 

 tain an estimate of the number taken from 

 each age class. With some variation, this 

 procedure was again followed in 1962. On 

 St. Paul Island, 8,161 of 15,639 females killed 

 in September were sampled for age and re- 

 productive condition. The remaining 7,478 

 females were sampled for age classification 

 only. During the kill ending 24 August, tagged 

 females only were examined for reproductive 

 condition. In addition, the tagged females 

 were weighed and their body lengths recorded. 



Occasionally, during the female kill, the 

 females were aligned in rows of 20 animals. 

 The first 10 animals in each row included 

 females with black or mixed color (black 

 and white) vibrissae; the remaining 10 ani- 

 mals were made up of females with white 

 vibrissae. This method was intended to sep- 

 arate young (approximately ages 2 to 5) from 

 older (age 6 and older) females. The animals 

 were sampled as though there were 2 rows 

 of 10 animals each, i.e., animals 1 and 2 and 

 11 and 12 were sampled in the first row of 

 20, 2 and 3 and 12 and 13 were sampled in the 

 second row, etc. This method is intended to 

 minimize sampling bias if the workmen selec- 

 tively position certain sized seals in the row. 



A behavior study begun in 1961 was con- 

 tinued in 1962. 



Age Classification 



The age compositions for the female kills 

 on the Pribilof Islands in 1962 are given in 

 appendix tables 12, 13, 14, and 15. Table 7 

 gives the year-class contributions to the female 

 kills on the Pribilof Islands. 



Table 8 summarizes the age composition of 

 females sampled from the kills of 1958-62. 

 The reduced number of older females in the 

 1958 and 1959 samples is a result of the 

 maximum length limit imposed on the taking 

 of females in those years. Had there been no 

 length limit, the age composition of females 

 taken in 1958 and 1959 would have been com- 

 parable to those of 1960 through 1962. Because 

 the age composition of females sampled from 

 the July-August and September kills of 1961 



11 



