92 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



From a careful study of these and other data, it is believed that the present practice 

 of weighing each skin should be discontinued and that a check complying with all reason- 

 able requirements may be made by the use on the killing field of calipers by means of 

 which the seals may be rapidly measured by the person in charge. Seals between 42 

 and 51 inches in body length may be considered as 3-year-olds with but little chance 

 for error. If it is found that seals under or over the proper size are being killed, the 

 fact can be immediately and graphically impressed on the minds of the working force. 

 If desirable, skins of seals departing from the standard may be tagged in the field and 

 a record made of the size or weight, but even this does not seem necessary. It is believed 

 that the real object — the securing of skins of a uniform class — will be accomplished 

 by this method with a minimum of effort, with no waste of valuable time, and with 

 much more accuracy than has been possible under the methods formerly in use. 



TAGGING OF SKINS. 



The affixing of a leather tag bearing a serial number to each sealskin as a mark of 

 authentication, while it affords a help in recording weights or measurements, does not 

 seem necessary. A tag can, of course, be removed at will and either thrown away or 

 attached to another skin, and therefore does not certainly identify any particular one. 

 Furthermore, it is not practicable to dress the skins without removing the tag. It is 

 therefore necessary to replace the leather tag by pricking in the skin a number or symbol 

 which can by no process be obliterated or hidden, and which, while the skin remains 

 intact, must constitute a distinctive mark. 



In view of these facts it seems that the small advantage gained by the system of 

 tagging each skin does not justify the expense and trouble involved, especially if the 

 troublesome and misleading process of recording the weight of each skin be abandoned. 



The authentication of the Pribilof Island sealskins will be rendered a matter of 

 certainty by pricking on each skin the letters P or G, followed by some number or symbol 

 to express the year of capture; e. g., P-15 or G-15, to express St. Paul or St. George, 

 1915. This process of pricking can be effected by a single motion with a small hand 

 instrument as the skins are counted into the salt house preparatory to curing, and the 

 mere recording of the number of skins taken at a killing or during a season can be done 

 as readily as under the present laborious system. As before stated, certain skins which 

 for any reason require special marks may be tagged as at present. 



PRACTICAL IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED. ' 



PRESENT UNIMPROVED CONDITION OF PLANT. 



It is evident to anyone considering the matter from an unprejudiced standpoint 

 that many improvements are needed in order that the work of sealing, the principal 

 business of the islands, may be more effectively accomplished. The Pribilof Islands, 

 with their herds of fur seals greatly surpassing in number and value any others in the 

 world, constitute a plant equivalent to a private business with an investment of millions 

 of dollars. It is plain that such a business deserves to be put on the most efficient 

 working basis possible. The need of a larger administrative force on the islands and 

 of improvements in some of the methods of the actual work of sealing or of the other 



