1966 Alaska Fur Seal Investigations

June 28, 1966

Annually the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries reports on its fur seal investigations on the Pribilof Islands and at sea. Investigations on the islands are directed mainly toward the development of a rational system for holding the seal population at the level of maximum productivity. At sea, the primary motivations for research are the problems of fur seal predation on commercially important fish and the intermingling of seals from the eastern and western Pacific Ocean. It is unlikely that unequivocal conclusions can be reached soon on either problem. General understanding of the pelagic life of fur seals, however, has been greatly improved during the past 9 years of research.