firms responded in 1964: Superior Seal, Inc. (Chicago), 

 Laclede, and Fouke. 



A letter of intent covering a contract to Fouke was issued on 

 31 March 1965. The new contract specified that up to one- 

 eighth of the raw sealskins would be retained annually for sale 

 to other firms. A press agent wrote (on 7 May 1965) that the 

 Government continues to be concerned with improving process- 

 ing techniques as well as developing competitive "knowhow" 

 in the handling of sealskins. Laclede was the first company to 

 benefit by the experiment claus; it received on 1 September 

 1965 a contract to process 5,000 experimental skins. 



On 13 April 1964, 206 tanned sealskins were donated to the 

 Seattle Indian Center "to be handicraft ed into small items of 

 cultural, artistic, curio, or novelty nature" (Mammal Biologi- 

 cal Laboratory, File 8.05.02). The skins had been variously 

 bleached, dyed, and processed by Supara in competing for the 

 Government contract. We mention the donation because it 

 represents the first use in modern times of "government" seal- 

 skins for other than garments. 



During the 8-yr period 1956-63, the herd reduction program 

 on the Pribilof Islands had removed 270,054 female seals 

 (Roppel et al. 1965b:8). One visible effect was the decline in 

 numbers of females on hauling grounds. Where 16,498 females 

 of ages 3 and 4 yr were killed in 1958, only 646 were killed dur- 

 ing a comparable period in 1963 (Roppel and Davey 1963: 16 4S , 

 1965). Annual pup recruitment, mortality of pups on land, 

 annual return of males, and pregnancy rate of mature females 

 had not changed as expected (Roppel et al. 1963). The 

 "biological momentum" of a large and complex herd could 

 not quickly be altered by herd reduction at the intensity then 

 practiced. 



After the 1961 season, no record was kept of the field length 

 of seals killed. Thereafter, when length was occasionally 

 measured, it was only as a guide to the clubbers in selecting 

 animals to be killed. 



In the summer of 1962, William G. Reeder and James W. 

 Nybakken (University of Wisconsin) spent 2 wk on St. Paul 

 Island "making a preliminary study of fur seal vocal patterns, 

 particularly those contributing to mother-young recognition" 

 (Roppel et al. 1963:52; Peterson and Reeder 1966). Roppel col- 

 lected skulls, bacula, and flippers for Reeder, who proposed to 

 estimate age from calcium and phosphate content. 



Tongues and larynxes of 25 fur seals and 5 northern sea lions 

 were collected in 1962 and sent to Jean A. Pierard (New York 

 State Veterinary College) as a contribution to his study of the 

 comparative anatomy of these organs in carnivores (Pierard 

 1963). 



Terramycin was injected peritoneally in two seal pups on 8 

 July 1962 and the pups were killed 10 d later. It was hoped that 

 this drug would deposit in the teeth and bones, and that it 

 could be used on a larger scale in the future for the internal 

 marking of seals. Douglas Weber (Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries, Fish and Wildlife Service, Seattle, Wash.) examined 

 by fluoroscopy thin sections of the teeth of the two pups and 

 found well-marked traces of the drug (Roppel et al. 1963:53; 

 and unpubl. notes). 



Selvig and Selvig (1962) compared the mineral content in 

 dentin and cementum of fur seal teeth. We do not know where 

 they got their specimens, the upper canines of three seals. 



Mark Chenault Keyes joined the Laboratory as a veterinar- 

 ian in 1962 and visited the Pribilofs that summer. He began to 

 gather anatomical evidence that the conventional method of 

 tagging seal pups at the wrist was injurious. By 1962, the 

 evidence from 6 yr of pup weighing (in autumn each year 

 about 1 wk after tagging) was conclusive that both males and 

 females lose weight after tagging. The weight loss is partly 

 overcome during the ensuing 2 mo. 



Richard G. Bauer joined the Laboratory as a biologist in 

 June 1962 and transferred to the U.S. Forest Service in May 

 1963. 



Hundreds of dead seals approximately 2 and 3 yr old were 

 observed on St. George Island in early September 1962. Food 

 poisoning from "red tide" organisms (Gonyaulax spp.) was 

 suggested as a possible cause of death, though there was no 

 evidence of a red tide at the time. Similar mysterious die-offs 

 had been reported from Caton Island, just south of the Alaska 

 Peninsula, in 1934 (13 carcasses) and in 1941 (40 carcasses) 

 (Scheffer 1950a:26). 



Many years earlier, the death of a St. George Island woman 

 had been ascribed to shellfish poisoning. In the island log 46 for 

 23 August 1878 (p. 165) the following statement appears: "At 

 1 1:45 a.m. the son of Zahar Oustigoff called his father from 

 work to come and assist his mother who was sick and unable to 

 walk. She had been under the cliffs west of the landing gather- 

 ing fuel, and while on the beach had eaten some mussels or 

 other shellfish .... The woman was taken to her house . . . 

 but she became paralized (sic) very soon and died at 12:20 p.m. 

 Good landing [the latter with reference to surf conditions]." 



Biologists tagged newborn pups in late June 1962 and later 

 recovered specimens of known ages 73 to 103 d. The dentitions 

 were studied as evidence of the eruption and loss of teeth; 

 pelage samples were studied as evidence of the mean date of 

 molt from black to silver pelage. This date was estimated to be 

 13 wk after birth, or 7 October (Bauer et al. 1964b). 



In the late 1950's, Rexford D. Lord, Jr. (Illinois Natural 

 History Survey) had suggested that, since the eye lens in mam- 

 mals apparently increases in weight throughout life, weight 

 might be used as an indicator of age. Eye lenses of 181 seals 

 were collected in 1958 and 1962 as a test of this proposition. 

 Lens weight was found to increase geometrically in both sexes 

 and was still increasing in the oldest specimens studied: a 14-yr 

 male and a 21-yr female. "When only the lens weight and sex 

 are known, the age of a seal can be identified to the nearest 

 year through age 2" (Bauer et al. 1964a:374). In short, the 

 method is too inexact to be valuable in fur seal research. 



A 2-yr-old female seal tagged as a pup on a Soviet breeding 

 island was recovered in Unimak Pass on 4 October 1962 

 (Fiscus et al. 1964:26). It was the first seal with a Soviet tag col- 

 lected in eastern Pacific waters, though several had been 

 recovered on the Pribilof Islands. No Soviet seals were taken 

 through 1964 in North American waters south of Unimak 

 Pass. 



"Roppel, A. Y., and S. P. Davey. 1963. Evolution of fur seal management 

 on the Pribilof Islands. Unpubl. manuscr., 24 p. Northwest and Alaska Fish. 

 Cent., Natl. Mar. Mammal Lab., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, 7600 Sand 

 Point Way NE., Seattle, WA 98115. 



"Official Journal, St. George Island, Alaska. October 1870 - December 1886. 

 (This journal is handwritten by the resident island manager.) Northwest and 

 Alaska Fish. Cent., Natl. Mar. Mammal Lab., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, 

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



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