Science & Data

The National Marine Fisheries Service is responsible for the management of northern fur seals on the Pribilof Islands and is the federal agency which coordinates management and research activities with Canada, Japan, and the USSR under terms of the Interim Convention on Conservation of North Pacific Fur Seals. National Marine Fisheries Service research on the Pribilof Islands, SanMiguel Island, and at sea yields the knowledge needed for management of the Pribilof Islands fur seal herd.

The National Marine Fisheries Service carries out biological research on the northern fur seal on the Pribilof Islands and at sea because it is responsible for harvesting this species on land and because it is the Federal Agency responsible for cooperating with Canada, Japan, and the USSR in conserving North Pacific fur seals.

The National Marine Fisheries Service carries out biological research on the northern fur seal on the Pribilof Islands and at sea because it is responsible for harvesting this species on land and because it is the Federal Agency responsible for cooperating with Canada, Japan, and the USSR in conserving North Pacific fur seals.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is responsible for the conservation of the northern fur seal because of its role in harvesting the resource on St. Paul Island (Pribilof Islands) and because of terms set forth in the Interim Convention on Conservation of North Pacific Fur Seals (1957) and its amending Protocol (1963). More recently, the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 have reinforced obligations of the National Marine Fisheries Service with respect to the northern fur seal.

The objective of fur seal research on the Pribilof Islands is to determine the level at which the herd will produce maximum sustained yield. The investigations satisfy obligations to the "Interim Convention for Conservation of North Pacific Fur Seals·· and produce the information needed to manage the resource. This report summarizes the data collected in 1972.

The objective of fur seal research on the Pribilof Islands is to determine the level at which the herd will produce maximum sustained yield. The investigations satisfy obligations to the "Interim Convention for Protection of North Pacific Fur Seals" and produce the information needed to manage the resource. This report summarizes the data collected in 1971.

The primary objective of conducting fur seal research on the Pribilof Islands is to determine the level at which the herd will produce a maximum sustained yield. The investigations satisfy obligations to the "Interim Convention for Protection of North Pacific Fur Seals" and produce the information needed to manage the resource. This report summarizes the data collected in 1970.

In 1969 the Pribilof Islands fur seal population began its climb to a new level. Females will not again be killed intentionally until about 450,000 pups are born annually. We are not able to predict how many years will be required for this level of pup production to be reached. With average survival, perhaps 5 years will be needed to accumulate a total of more than 700,000 females 3 years old or older needed to produce 450,000 young. Exceptional survival such as that experienced by the year classes of 1952 and 1958 or poor survival like that of the year class of 1956 will substantially change the time required to bring the number of females to the desired level.

The year 1968 marks an important step in studies of the Pribilof Islands fur seal population. Now, 13 years after we first began to reduce the seal population with the expectation that a smaller population would yield larger kills and more stability, we are ready to let it increase in size. The high population of the 1950s has been reduced and held at nearly the same level since 1963. An estimate of the mean kill of males from the year classes at this lower population level and the size of fluctuations to be expected in the kill will be determined from collections of data completed by 1972.

The problems of managing international resources have collectively been the strongest influence in establishing and maintaining a sustained research program for the northern fur seal. Investigations intended to supply information needed by the North Pacific Fur Seal Commission for management of fur seals have continued since 1956 on the Pribilof Islands and since 1958 at sea.