
Figure 3,--A nine-year male fur seal wearing a hot-iron brand across the back 
of his neck, St. Paul Island, Alaska, June 27, 1949. The brand 
was applied to the 3-months old seal. 
Branding, northern fur seal, Okhotsk Sea.=--The fur seal treaty of 1911, 
to which Japan was a party, was to remain in effect for 15 years, and there- 
after until terminated by a year's written notice by one or more of the 
parties. Toward the end of the 15 year period, Japanese scientists under- 
took to gather fresh information on the seals in the western Pacific Ocean 
and Sea of Okhotsk (Japanese Bureau of Fisheries 1933: 12-13). Annually from 
1925 to 1932, and perhaps later, they branded a number of seals on Robben 
Island (near Sakhalin Island, now under Soviet rule), The total amounted to 
1,028 seals. They used a hot iron in the shape of an ideograph and applied 
it to the shoulders or rump of seals of assorted sizes and sexes, no pups or 
old bulls. From 1926 to 1932 they confined their branding to the middle of 
the rump of bachelor males, 
