Distribution.—Breeds on the Pribilof Islands, Alaska. Abundant off the coast of Washington on migration.
Description.—The difference in the size of male and female fur seals is great. Males are about 8 feet in length when fully grown but the females are only about 4 feet long. Males weigh up to 700 pounds but females only about 100 pounds. In general appearance the fur seal resembles the sea lion but the fur is longer, denser and softer. Males are very dark brown in color. Females and young are grayish brown. The fur seal, like the sea lion, can reverse its hind flippers and use them to a certain extent in walking.
The Alaskan fur seal breeds on the Pribilof Islands, Alaska. The seals emerge from the water to certain favored hauling-out places in May and June. They leave the Islands in November to begin their long migration. The bulls spend the winter off the coast of Alaska south of the Aleutians but the females and young travel south to the ocean off California. In the spring they start north, arriving off the coast of Washington in February, March and April. Young, rarely adults, are washed up on the ocean beaches of Washington ([Scheffer], 1939: 43).
The United States Government, by international treaty, manages the fur seal herds on a sustained yield basis and pelagic sealing by independent hunters is prohibited. Indians are allowed to take the fur seals on migration but are subject to certain restrictions. Modern boats, outboard motors and guns are prohibited. Indians living on the coast of Washington hunt the fur seals from dugout canoes. The weapons are double-headed harpoons with long cedar shafts. One harpoon head is at the tip of the shaft and the other is on a short fork that projects downward and forward at a 30° angle from the main shaft. The harpoon is thrown with the aid of hand grips at the end of the shaft. The seal is recovered by rawhide lines connected to the harpoon heads. The hunters leave shore at dawn and travel ten to twenty miles from land, at which distance the seal herds are usually encountered. The hunting is dangerous work and is carried on only by skilled and brave men. Relatively calm weather is required. The flesh of the seals is eaten and the skins sold.
[Schultz] and Rafn (1936: 13-15) examined the stomachs of 41 fur seals taken within 30 miles of La Push, Washington, in March, April and May, 1930. Food found included squids, shrimps, herring and lampreys.
Phoca vitulina richardii ([Gray])
Hair seal or harbor seal
Halicyon richardii [Gray], Proc. Zoöl. Soc. London, p. 28, 1864.
Phoca richardii [Allen], Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 16:491, December 12, 1902.
Phoca richardii richardii [Miller], U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull., 128:164, April 29, 1924.
Phoca vitulina richardii [Doutt], Ann. Carnegie Mus., 29:117, May 12, 1942.