
during the last 10 years show that there is considerable overlapping in 
length among age classes, so that the 1913-18 standards are applicable 
only in a general way so far as true ages are concerned. Their value in 
commercial sealing operations is not impaired, however, by the fact that 
they poorly represent true age classes. The sealers are under instruc- 
tions to kill 41- to 45-inch males and their judgment of size is constantly 
checked by measuring each seal killed. The take conforms closely to the 
commercial standards, about 90 percent falling within the required limits. 
Since it will be conclusively shown in subsequent pages that the 
length standards are poor criteria of age, we have consistently referred 
to the outmoded age-length classes of the commercial harvest as numbered 
groups: 
Group tT up to 36 inches 
Group II 37 to 40 inches 
Group III 41 to 45 inches 
Group IV 46 to 51 inches 
Group V 52 to 57 inches 
Group VI 58 to 63 inches 
For example, the seals referred to as "3-year-olds" in the commercial 
sealing statistics are called group-III seals in the present report. 
When we mention age, it has been ascertained either through tag 
recoveries or through tooth-ridge counts. 
Table 19.~-Percentages of 2-, 3-, and 4-year tagged males falling within 
length groups I to V, killed in 1950, 1951, and 1952. 
[Seal pups tagged in A-, B-, and CS-series in 1947, 1948, and 
1949 were killed in their third or fourth years; total killed, 
4,196. Instructions to the sealers were: in 1949 to spare all 
tagged animals; in 1950 to kill all tagged animals regardless 
of size; in 1951 to kill all tagged animals except those 
bearing a hind flipper CS-tag (2-year-olds); in 1952 to ignore 
tags and kill only for size. ] 
Seals killed 
Age 2 “ Age 3 Age 4 
Length _ 1950 1950 1951 1952 1951 1952 
group No. @& No. % No. % No. %$ No. & Now & 
I 10 9 
II 93 80 154 13 169 14 22 3 a< 
II 13 ll 1,071 86 1,014 84 787 96 303 65 290 82 


IV 15 1 R2 2 8 1 157 34 64 18 
V 3 <1 
Total 116 1,240 1,205 817 L464 354 

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