100 



■ 4-YEAR-OLD 

 [^5-YEAR-OLD 

 |6-YEAR-0LD 

 17-YEAR-OLD 



SAMPLE SIZE 



13-14 



100 



90 



80 



70 



60 



50 



40 



30 



20 



13 8 -YEAR-OLD 

 ^ 9-YEAR-OLD 

 ^ lO-YEAR-OLD 

 I I II YEARS AND OLDER 



32 39 



Is 



147 



SEPT 6-7 

 DATE 



11-12 



Figure 4.— Percent postpartum female seals sampled from the kill, by date and age, St. 



6, 7. and 11-14 September 1962. 



13-14 

 Paul Island, 



In 1941, Wilke and Banner ' recovered and 

 collected information on 41 yearling males 

 and 6 yearling females tagged as pups in 1940. 



Twenty-three animals selected and tagged as 

 yearlings in 1961 were recovered from the 

 kill in 1962 (table 16), but age determination 

 from the canine teeth revealed that only one 

 of these was a yearling when tagged. Thus, 

 body weight is apparently unreliable as an 

 indicator of age. However, the extent cannot 

 be measured until additional animals selected 

 and tagged as yearlings in 1961 are recovered 

 in 1963; seals that actually were yearlings in 

 1961 would normally be expected to return in 

 greater numbers at age 3 than at age 2. Body 

 length was used as the primary criterion for 

 selection of yearlings in 1962. 



'Ford Wilke and A.Henry Banner. 1941. Recoveryof 

 branded yearlings. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, 

 Marine Mammal Biological Laboratory, U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, Seattle, Wash. [Typed manuscript.] 



Preliminary surveys made 20 and 24 Sep- 

 tember on Polovina, Tolstoi, and Little Zapadni 

 Rookeries indicated that sufficient yearlings 

 were present to begin tagging. Six yearlings 

 tagged as pups in 1961 were measured, sexed, 

 and released during the surveys which totaled 

 3 hours in duration. 



During 7.5 days from 26 September to 11 

 October, 839 animals were double tagged on 

 St. Paul Island within the series N-50,001 to 

 N-51,000, and 128 seals tagged as pups in 1961 

 were each given an additional tag. 



Methods . — A five-man crew surrounded all 

 seals on a certain section of the rookery or 

 hauling ground (the only hauling grounds on 

 which known-age and selected yearlings were 

 found were Polovina Sands and Tolstoi Sands), 

 preventing their escape. A few seals at a time 

 were then allowed to proceed slowly toward 

 the sea so animals tentatively selected as 

 yearlings could easily be extracted from the 



17 



