114 



ABUNDANCE 



The numbers of seals sighted, collected, woxinded and lost, and killed and lost 

 were 1,078, 374, 39, and 26 off Washington and 1,509, 456, 27, and 78 in Alaska 

 waters. Tables C-12 and C5-13 give numbers and percentages of seals in these 

 categories for 1958-68. 



Tables C-14 to C-17 show the number of seals seen and collected off Wash- 

 ington and in Alaska waters in relation to effort by 10-day periods. 



Seals were seen in groups of one to nine animals off Washington (table C-18) 

 and in groups of one to five in Alaska waters (table C-19), Seals travel alone 

 more frequently in the spring and summer in Alaska waters than in winter off 

 Washington. 



Incomplete data on six seals taken in Alaska waters are not included in any 

 of the following tables. 



AOE AND SEX 



Seals collected at sea are considered to have passed into the next higher age 

 group on 1 January (Standing Scientific Committee of the North Pacific Fur 

 Seal Commission, 1963). The ages of seals collected in November and December 

 1967, however, were increased 1 year to permit comparisons with seals taken after 

 1 January 1968. Thus, seals of the same year class were given the same age in 

 all tables in this report. 



Table 42 gives the age and sex of seals collected off Washington and Alaska 

 in 1967-68. About 50 percent of the females killed were from 1 to 7 years old. 



Seventy-four yearling seals (1967 year class) were collected January-February 

 1968 for continuing studies of these animals during their first year of life, 

 a period when fur seals siuffer the greatest mortality. For example, general 

 body condition was appraised by measuring the subcutaneous layers of fat at 

 their thickest points over the sternum and ventral to the pelvic region (table 

 C-20). Additional information on these yearlings is given elsewhere in this 

 report. 



TAG RECOVERIES 



In 1968, we took 7 males in ages 2 to 16 years and 31 females between the ages 

 of 1 and 16 years that had tags or other marks (table 43). No Soviet tags were 

 found attached to seals collected in 1968. 



LENGTHS AND WEIGHTS 



Mean lengths and weights are given for pregnant, post partum, and non- 

 pregnant females collected in 1967-68 in tables C-21 to C-26, and for males in 

 tables C-27 and C-28. 



Sex, length, and weight were not determined for two very small embryos, and 

 the data have not yet been obtained for 17 fetuses on loan. Crown rump rather 

 than total length measurments were taken from 24 male and 33 female fetuses 

 because of their small size, and these fetuses were weighed in the laboratory 

 rather than at sea because accurate weights could not be obtained on a rolling 

 and pitching vessel. Table C-29 gives crown-rump length and weight after 

 preservation in formalin. 



Table C-30 shows measurements of total length and of the weight of un- 

 preserved fetuses. 



REPRODUCTION 



Table C-31 shows the reproductive condition of female seals collected by 

 month in 1967-68. Five primiparous 4-year-olds were the yoimgest and one multi- 

 parous 21-year-old was the oldest among pregnant seals collected in 1967-68. 



The pregnancy rates of fur seals collected in the eastern Pacific Ocean froan 

 1958 to 1966 were tested to see if they differed by area and year of collection. 

 The largest numbers of seals were collected off California (36.5 percent) and in 

 the Bering Sea (28.4 percent) . 



Mr. Dtngell. Miss Herrington, the committee is grateful to you 

 for your very helpful presentation this morning. 



There was a great deal of work in your preparation and we are 

 very grateful to you. 



Miss Herrington. Thank you for the opportunity to sipeak for the 

 people. 



We have a group of petitions here in large numbers, perhaps in the 

 thousands, and we would like to present them to the committee. 



