fvo lines of inquiry were considered of paramount importance: (a) the eise of 
the population and the points,of origin of the fur seals wintering off the Japanese coast 
and (b) the kinds and quantities of food organisms consumed by these seals. Adequate 
information on these pointe can be obtained in only one way, by collecting seals in the 
waters off Japan for ecientific study. Unfortunately circumstances over which the authors 
had no control prevented the collection of extensive data. During the single sealing sea- 
son the junior author remained in Japan, he was able to spend less than three months actu- 
elly in the field, most of which, from 21 January-24 March, was spent observing conditions 
on the sealing grounds off the east coasts of Hokkaido and Honehu between Muroran and 
Onahama. He wae allowed to collect only for a 10-day period, 15-24 March, when he obtained 
22 seals, The following sections are based largely on the resulte of his collecting and 
observations. 
THS FUR SEAL IN JAPAN 
1. Distribution 

The distribution of fur seale in the waters off Japan is shown clearly by the 
records of the pelagic sealers. It has been described in detail in the Japanese literature 
and need only be outlined here (Figure 10). 
On the Pacific Ocean side of Japan the advance guard of the southward fur seal 
migration usually reaches the waters off Hokkaido the first week in October. Their numbers 
gradually increase in Uchiura-wan through November and reach a peak abundance in late De- 
cember. The numbers fall off again in January as the herds move farther south, but a few 
seals are present in these waters throughout the winter. A marked influx again takes place 
in Uchiura-wan when the seals return northward in May and June. 
The southward movement along the Pacific coast of Honshu is rather desultory. 
The. main body of seals seems to come south well off shore, and to remain some 200~300 miles 
off the coast until February when it starts moving westward toward the land. Off Fukushima 
Prefecture the seals first appear in January, increase steadily during February, and are 
moet plentiful in March and April. 
The seals now move northward along the coast, coming closer to shore as they move 
north. Off Honehu they seldom come nearer than 15 miles to land, and most of them remain 
from 25 to 60 miles off. shore, but off Hokkaido they frequently come within 5 miles of the 
coast, especially in the neighborhood of Uchiura-wan between Esan-misaki and Mrimo-saki. 
The last seals leave Hokkaido waters in late June and early July. 
The seal migration in the Japan Sea never has been of marked intensity and has 
not been exploited actively since its original discovery and disruption in 1901 and 1902. 
A few seals still come through Soya-kaikyo annually in November and move southward down 
the west side of the Japan Sea to winter off the east coast of Korea. In February this 
small herd moves eastward across the Japan Sea, reaches the coast of Honshu between Noto- 
hanto and Sado-shima in early March, and then moves rapidly northward past Akita, Aomori, 
and western Hokimido. Fishermen off the northwest const of Japan still report seeing small 
concentrations of fur sealg moving northward occasionally in March and April, but never in 
large enough numbers to warrant establishing a fishery. 
‘The routes followed by the seale after leaving Hokkaido waters and their ultimate 
individual destifations are still somewhat uncertain and the subject of considerable debate. 
‘Ae they move northward the seals quicken their pace. No one has ever been able to follow 
them in their final dash to the rookeries, and no seal hunter has ever found them moving 
regularly through any stretch of water between the Kurile and their breeding grounds. The 
Japanese pelagic sealers, after the sealing declined off Hokkaido in late May, always 
sailed diractly to one of the breeding islands, where the hunting prospects would be better 
on their arrival than at any kmown nearer point en route. 
