Pribilof Is. 



Bering Sea 



Figure 36. — Locations where 628 northern fur seals were collected whose stomachs 

 contained Pacific herring, 1958-74. 



the total stomach content volume for seals taken in this area 

 (Wilke et al. 1958"). As shown in Figure 11, herring was the 

 principal food during February and March as based on sam- 

 ples which came mostly from Sitka Sound. 



Pacific herring is distributed in coastal waters from Baja 

 California, Mexico, northward along the North American 

 coast into the Arctic Ocean and southward along Asian coastal 

 waters to Korea, Japan, and the Sea of Okhotsk (Hart 1973). 

 In the eastern North Pacific, the major concentrations of her- 

 ring abundance are reported from Puget Sound, Washington, 

 northward to Dixon Entrance and in the Bering Sea (Wespestad 

 and Barton 1981; Hourston and Haegele 1980). 



Pacific herring are taken by commercial fisheries in south- 

 eastern Alaska, Prince William Sound, and the Kodiak Island 

 areas where concentrations of herring become abundant on the 

 spawning grounds (Reardan 1981a, b). At present the commer- 

 cial herring fishery in Alaska and British Columbia is primarily 

 for eggs-on-kelp (kazunoko kombu), sac-roe (kazunoko), and 

 the bait fishery. The first two fishery products are exported to 

 Japan and the bait is generally used in the domestic commer- 

 cial and sport fishery. There is no important food fishery for 

 herring in Alaska but, in British Columbia, a small portion of 

 the catch is sold for human consumption and as animal food 

 to aquariums and zoos. 



Deepsea smelts (Bathylagidae). — Deepsea smelts or "seal 

 fish" are important food of fur seals in the deepwater areas of 

 the Bering Sea occurring in every collection year since 1963. 

 Fishes of the family Bathylagidae ranked fourth in importance 

 by volume as food species in 1963, 1964, 1968, 1973, and 1974 

 (Fiscus et al. 1965; Fiscus and Kajimura 1965; Marine Mam- 

 mal Biological Laboratory 1970; Kajimura et al. footnote 16; 

 Kajimura and Sanger footnote 17). The "seal fish" was first 

 reported by Lucas (1899) and were found in stomachs of seals 

 taken from the deepwater areas of the Bering Sea (Fig. 37). 

 The 10 occurrences of bathylagids off the Washington coast in 

 May 1972 were also from seals taken over deep water. These 



"Wilke, F-, K. Niggol, and C. H. Fiscus. 1958. Pelagic fur seal investigations- 

 California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, 1958. Unpubl. rep., 96 p. U.S. Fish 

 Wildl. Serv., Mar. Mammal Res., Seattle, Wash. (Avail. Natl. Mar. Mammal 

 Lab., Northwest and Alaska Fish. Cent., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, 7600 

 Sand Point Way NE., Seattle, WA 981 15.) 



Figure 37. — Locations where 169 northern fur seals were collected whose stomachs 

 contained deepsea smelt, 1958-74. 



fish were not among the principal forage prey of seals taken 

 off Washington in 1972. 



Jordan and Gilbert (1899) described a new species of bathy- 

 lagid which they named Therobromus callorhinus "seal fish" 

 because it was described from vertebrae found in stomachs of 

 fur seals taken in the Bering Sea. Chapman (1943) subse- 

 quently identified this "seal fish" as a species of Bathylagus. 

 The identification of bathylagids in stomachs of fur seals taken 

 in the Bering Sea in 1963 was the first reported occurrence 

 since T. callorhinus "seal fish" was reported by Lucas (1899) 

 from seals collected over deep water in the same area. Lucas 

 reported "seal fish" as the third most frequent prey eaten by 

 fur seals; walleye pollock and squid ranked numbers 1 and 2 

 ahead of the "seal fish." The "seal fish" were from deep 

 water areas between lat. 54°43 ' and 55 C 29'N, and long. 

 167°41' and 170°53 'W. 



Species of the genus Bathylagus of the family Bathylagidae 

 are bathypelagic offshore in the northeast Pacific Ocean rang- 

 ing from Baja California, Mexico, and north into the Bering 

 and Okhotsk Seas (Hart 1973). Chapman (1943) and Rass 

 (1967) reported bathylagid fishes (genus Bathylagus) as wide- 

 spread in the world oceans from the Bering and Norwegian 

 Seas to Antarctica. Fishes of this family are small in size 

 (length 12-25 cm), usually found in deep water, and called 

 black or deepsea smelts (Hart 1973). 



Fedorov (1973) listed the depths and habitat for the four 

 species of bathylagids found in the Bering Sea as follows: 

 Mesopelagic — Bathylagus ochotensis, 30 to 1,000 m; bathy- 

 pelagic — Leuroglossus stilbius schmidti, to 1,800 m; B. 

 pacificus— 50 to 1 ,604 m; and B. milleri — 60 to 1 ,420 m. Al- 

 though there is no estimate on the relative abundance of these 

 species, Grinds (1965) listed B. pacificus occurrence as com- 

 mon and the remaining three species as not rare. 



Pacific sand lance. — Pacific sand lance is one of the princi- 

 pal forage foods of fur seals in the western Gulf of Alaska 

 region during May, June, and July (Fig. 38). In 1958, 1960, 

 and 1962, fur seals fed on sand lances near Sanak Island and 

 on Portlock, Albatross, Shumagin, and Davidson Banks 

 (Wilke et al. footnote 22; Niggol et al. footnote 15; and Fiscus 

 et al. 1964). The Kodiak Island shelf region is an area of abun- 

 dant zooplankton and high biological productivity (Kendall et 



29 



