
Tagging, northern fur seal, Okhotsk Sea.-=According to the Japanese 
Bureall of Fisheries (1933! 12-13), 356 fur seals on Robben Island were tagged 
up to the year 1932, We have no later information on Japanese taggings. 
Each tag was applied to the base of the right fore flipper of a 3-year old 
male and was accompanied by a hot iron brand. 
1930. Nickel ring with V engraved thereon; 90 seals. 
1930. Aluminum ring with Japanese numerical ideographs; 50 seals. 
1931, Aluminum ring with Japanese numerical ideographs; 98 seals, 
1932. Aluminum ring with legend "1932"; 100 seals. 
No fur seals showing evidence of having been tagged, or branded, or other- 
wise marked by the Japanese have evek been seen on the Pribilof Islands. 
Tagging, northern fur seal, Kamchatka.=-“Fur seals on the breeding grounds 
of the Commander Islands have been tagged by Soviet biologists. We have been 
unable to learn the details, but understand that a number of pups were 
tagged in the years 1924 to 1928, inclusive; 1931; and possibly later (Barabash- 
Nikiforov 1936: 224; 230). "For marking black pups [1-3 months old] in 1931, 
tags in the form of aluminum strips sharpened at one end were introduced. 
They were & x 95 mm They pierced the fold of_the skin in front of the fore 
flipper and were then bent into a ring [fig. 6}. The slowmess and painful- 
ness of the operation and the fact that aluminum is oxidized in sea water 
make this method unsatisfactory. Among its faults may be mentioned the large 
size of the ring, leading occasionally to tearing of the skin when it catches 
a sharp rock. The silver ear-rings which were previously applied also gave 
poor results, since they occasionally ruptured the ear shell (pinna). In 
the future we should use corrosion-proof tags. Probably the best tag would 
be in the form of a small disc with a tail of the type used for tagging fish 
[fig. 7]. In order to pull the long tail through the skin a needle, such as 
a sail or 'gypsy' needle, might be used" (loc. cit., p. 230, translation). 
According to the Japanese Bureau of Fisheries (1933: 13) fur seals on 
the Commander Islends were tagged as follows: 
"1929--Nickel ring with 9B or 9M engraved thereon attached to left ear. 
1930--Nickel ring with 30B or 30M engraved thereon attached to left ear." 
No information on the kinds or numbers of seals tagged was given." 
Further details of Soviet tagging operations are given in a letter from 
Glavavyerovod, April 28, 1945: "On the Commander Islands, the tagging of 
newborn seals with aluminum and, later, brass rings has been done periodically 
in August and September since 1928. Up to 1930 the tags were attached to 
the ear and since 1931 to the fold of the skin in the armpit of the fore 
flipper. During the war no tagging has been done, Each tag bears a letter 
indicating the first letter of the island on which the tagging was done, that 
is, B for Bering, M for Myedni, and a number indicating the year of tagging" 
(translation). 
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