TABLE 11. --Summary of reproductive condition of female seals sampled 

 from the kill. St. Paul Island, 6. 7, and 11-14 September 1962 



flipper where furred skin ends and bare skin 

 begins. The checkmark used in 1962 consisted 

 of a "V" notch cut into the front edge of the 

 right fore flipper near the tip. Tag and check- 

 mark locations of fur seal pups tagged since 

 1946 are shown in figure 5, 



Tagging — Yearlings 



Seal mortality from birth to age 3 is cal- 

 culated by subtracting the number killed on 

 land at ages 2 and 3 from the estimated num- 

 ber of pups born. It has been estimated that 

 mortality from birth to age 1 could be sepa- 

 rated from mortality from birth to age 3 if 

 5,000 yearling seals could be tagged. This 

 assumes that most mortality occurs during the 

 first year of life. Continuing heavy mortality 



beyond age 1 would prevent a satisfactory 

 estimate from 5,000 tagged yearlings. 



Trial tagging of yearling seals began in 

 1961* on St, Paul Island. Body weight and, 

 to some extent, pelage characteristics were 

 used to separate yearlings from seals of 

 other ages. Of 740 selected yearlings double 

 tagged in 1961 within the series M-1 to 

 M-2,000, 139 were males and 601 were fe- 

 males. Ten males and four females tagged as 

 pups in 1960 were each given an additional 

 tag. 



* R.S, Peterson, 1961, Report and analysis of yearling 

 recoveries and tagging, St. Paul Island, 1961. Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries, Marine Mammal Biological Lab- 

 oratory, U,S, Fish and Wildlife Service, Seattle, Wash. 

 [Typed manuscript. 1 



16 



