Fishery bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service - NOAA

STUDIES ON THE STRIPED BASS OF THE ATLANTIC COAST 39
the results of 1936. The rate at which striped bass may travel south in the fall is
shown by the recapture of several fish tagged at Montauk, 450-500 miles away from
the point of release, 35-40 days after the date of tagging—an average of 12 mUes per
day. This distance was measured in a straight Une along the coast, which the fish
undoubtedly did not travel. Moreover, there is no proof that the fish left the
moment they were tagged or were caught at the other end of their migration as soon
as they arrived. It seems likely, therefore, that they averaged far more than 12
miles per day. It is of interest that a considerable number of recaptures in the
winter and early spring months were from well up large coastal rivers, where spawning
occurs in May, thus indicating that some bass probably winter in or near the spawning
areas. It is probable that the majority of the spawning individuals in any year do
not move into these areas until the late spring, 12 particularly in southern rivers.
A total of 770 striped bass were also tagged from April to October in 1937 in the
Niantic and Thames Rivers, Conn., and the returns from these further corroborated
the results obtained from other marking experiments in northern waters. (See table
20.) There were an insufficient number of fish tagged in April and May to expect
MIGRATION ROUTE OF STRIPED
BASS TAGGED AND RELEASED
AT MONTAUK, L I., N. Y
OCTOBER 25-27. I9ÎT
FIOUBE 28.—Migration route of striped bass tagged and released at Montauk, L. I., N. Y., Oct. 25-27,1937. The number of fish
tagged was 303, the number of returns 100 (33 percent of the total). Note that there were no returns of any significance to the
north of the point of release, and contrast with the results of tagging from the same area In the spring as shown In Fleure 27
(see table 19).
any returns showing the northern migration at that time of year. Consistent recaptures
at or near the point of release during the summer and early fall months, however,
again demonstrated the stability of the population in Connecticut waters from June
to October. The returns from the south in the fall and winter months offered additional
proof of the migration south from northern waters in late October and November,
recaptures on the south side of Long Island, in New Jersey, Delaware, and
Chesapeake Bay being not infrequent. The total number of returns from the 770
striped bass that were tagged was 93, 12.1 percent, by July 1, 1938. By comparison
with other tagging experiments on striped bass carried on in these waters, this was a
strikingly low percentage of recapture. This may be accounted for by the fact that
excessively high temperatures in the latter part of August 1937, apparently drove the
bass out of the Niantic and Thames Rivers, where they are normally subject to a
highly intensive fishery, to the cooler coastal waters where they were not so easily
available, and because a large number of the fish tagged in 1937 were released in
areas that are not so well known to local fishermen.
Thus the evidence accumulated from tagging experiments on striped bass in
Connecticut and Long Island waters in 1936 and 1937, and from the examination
of commercial catch records, leaves little room for doubt that there is a mass migra-
>' In this connection, Mr. Robert A. Nesblt tagged M striped bassin Sandy Hook Bay, N. J.. April 22-25, 1938, and recaptures In
late April and May showed that many of these fish went up the Hudson Hiver. Recaptures In the summer showed a movement
to the east and north.