
to 1918 there were no regular killings and, accordingly, all seals were 
spared as reserves. From 1919 to 1922 the reserves were not marked. From 
1923 to 1927, about 10,000 seals were sheared annually. There followed a 
steady decline in the number of seals sheared, from 8,800 in 1928 to 3,000 
in 1932. Since 1933 the manager of the Pribilof Islands has depended upon 
field observations and sealing records for assurance that an ample breeding 
reserve is maintained. 
Eleven seals thought to have been sheared on the Pribilof Islands, were 
recovered between 1926 and 1928 in Japanese waters, A twelfth seal was. 
ae on Medny (Copper) Island in 1925 (Japanese Bureau of Fisheries 1933: 
14-16 ° 
Tagging, northern fur seal, Alaska.--Six series of experiments in the 
taggilig or fur Seals have boon carricd out on St. Paul Island (table 2). 
(1) In each of the years 1927, 1928, and 1929, Pribilof Superintendent 
Harry J. Christoffers applied aluminum tags to the flippers of 200 bachelor 
seals judged to be three-year olds. The tag was of a size commonly used on 
the ears of sheep, and the fins of fish, quite similar to the one shown in 
figure % The tag was applied to the hind margin of the fore flipper close 
to the body and, in addition, a hot-iron brand was placed on the seal's back. 
In the 1927 series, the animals were not only tagged and branded but were 
reek as well] (St. Paul Island log, July 21, 1927; July 21, 1928; July 26, 
1929). 
Over 50 seals from this series of taggirgs were recovered. During sealing 
operations on the Pribilofs, 27 tags were recovered, as follows: 5 in 1928, 
13 in 1929, and 9 in 1930. Each tag recovered was of the series of the pre- 
vious year, i.e., was found on an animal approximately four years old. 
Twenty-eight tags were said to have been recovered in the coastal waters 
of Japan from 1928 to 1930. Photcgraphs of three of the tags, nos. 14466, 
14479, and 14494, were published (Japanese Bureau of Fisheries 1933: 16<18). 
In 1929, Soviet authorities reportedly killed a seal bearing tag no, 
14554 USBF, on Bering Island. The animal was presumably a four-year old 
(Glavzvyerovod, letter of April 28, 1945). 
In 1949 we found one of these tags on the sand beach at Northeast Point. 
It was 9 x 22 mm. in closed position and bore the legen& "U.S.B.F. '27 = 
1482(7)." How long it remained on its original host is not known. 
A report by the Japanese fisheries expert Keisi Isino possibly refers 
to the same series of taggings. Isino states thats "When I went to the 
Commandovsky group in 1925 to inquire into the conditions of the seal business, 
I happened to find there several animals bearing the tags of the Pribilof 
Islands [however, no seals were tagged on the Pribilofs before 1927. Perhaps 
Isino meant branded seals of the 1923 series]. . . .When I was out to the 
Pribilofs in 1926 I worked with American authorities and had metal tags put 
8 
