distributed among lots of male skins and they apparently 

 returned an average of $107 each. A similar sample was taken 

 the following year (Scheffer and Johnson footnote 42). By 

 then, the biologists had realized that lumping experimental 

 skins of females with conventional male skins was an un- 

 satisfactory way of arriving at dollar evaluation. For the 1962 

 sample, they developed a system of "index numbers." The in- 

 dex number for a skin can be calculated immediately after 

 grading. The 1962 sample suggested that the grade of a female 

 skin begins to level off or decline in the "black-and-white- 

 whisker" group of animals, ages 5 to 6. Samples of female 

 skins were also taken in 1963, 1964, and 1965. 



Fiscus collected fur seal hearts and livers at sea off Califor- 

 nia in early 1961 and delivered them fresh at the San Francisco 

 dock to Thomas Richardson (Chemist, Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries, Davis, Calif.). Richardson's interest was in fat 

 metabolism as indicated by mitochondria. Public interest was 

 developing in the whole problem of fatty foods versus human 

 health and longevity. 



Nagasaki (1961) made a thorough analysis of statistics of the 

 Pribilof herd. It was a highly technical account which we are 

 not prepared to evaluate. It represented the main contribution 

 of Japan to the North Pacific Fur Seal Commission (1964) on 

 the subject of fur seal populations. 



Laurence Irving, known for his studies on the physiology of 

 aquatic animals, visited St. Paul Island in 1961. With 

 associates Leonard Peyton, Cordell Bahn, and Richard S. 

 Peterson, he made studies of the maturation of diving adapta- 

 tions and heat regulation in seals (Irving et al. 1962, 1963) (Fig. 

 14 top). He concluded that young seals can dive safely for 2 

 min, adults for 5-6 min. The large bare flippers enable the seal 

 quickly to adjust to changes in the surrounding temperature. 



William G. Reeder and Wallace I. Welker, of the depart- 

 ments of zoology and physiology, University of Wisconsin, 

 were on St. Paul Island for a week in the summer of 1961. 

 They collected perfused brains of three fur seals, the whole 

 body of another, and the skeleton of three others. Through 

 their work with Laughlin's team on Kodiak Island, they had 

 developed an interest in identifying remains of marine mam- 

 mals (Laughlin and Reeder 1962). Welker donated to the 

 Marine Mammal Biological Laboratory in 1964 a plastic cast 

 of a male fur seal brain. 



1962 



The Standing Scientific Committee of the North Pacific Fur 

 Seal Commission met in Seattle in February and March 1962. 

 Committee members were G. C. Pike (Canada), F. Nagasaki 

 (Japan), F. Wilke (United States), and S. V. Dorofeev 

 (U.S.S.R.). Dorofeev died suddenly on 16 February and his 

 place was taken by S. G. Fedorov. The report (North Pacific 

 Fur Seal Commission 1964) was a very useful catalogue of 

 biological data on the northern fur seal. It has not been equal- 

 ed as an appraisal of the numbers, distribution, and economic 

 status of the North American and Asian seal populations. 



When the annual take of seal skins was increased in the late 

 1950's by the killing of females, the Fouke Fur Company mov- 

 ed to a larger factory in Greenville, S.C. Between June 1960 



Figure 14. — Top: Lawrence Irving (right) and Cordell H. Bahn (left) preparing 

 to "testdive" a seal pup in a tank of seawater, St. Paul Island, in a physiological 

 study; August 1961 (photo by V. B. Scheffer). Bottom: Shearing seal pups on 

 Zapadni Rookery, 3 August 1963, to provide a basis for estimating the size of the 

 population. Left to right in foreground: John Haxton, Ancel M. Johnson; left to 

 right in background: Ken Thompson, Richard Stroud, Pete Dzikiewicz, Frank 

 Reberger (photo by R. S. Peterson). 



and December 1961, processing gradually came to a halt in St. 

 Louis and increased to full tempo in Greenville. "The decision 

 of the Company to relocate its complete operations without 

 discussion with the Department [of Interior] and without 

 regard to the public interest" 44 led to a break in the long series 

 of contracts between the Company and the Government. The 

 Interior Department gave other reasons, as well, for its deci- 

 sion to terminate the current contract on 31 December 1962 

 (Anonymous 1962). 



An invitation to bid for a new contract was issued in June 

 1962 and four firms responded: Pierre Laclede Fur Co. (St. 

 Louis), Supara, Inc. (Chicago), Fouke Fur Co. (Greenville), 

 and Martin-Rice, Ltd. (London). Supara seemed to be the suc- 

 cessful bidder, but the Attorney General in 1963 declared that 

 the award was invalid. A new invitation was issued and three 



Northwest and Alaska Fish. Cent., Natl. Mar. Mammal Lab., 

 Serv., NOAA, 7600 Sand Point Way NE., Seattle, WA 981 15. 



Natl. Mar. Fish. 



"Interior Department, October 1961 , 9 p. Washington, D.C. 



49 



