ANALYSIS OF RETURNS OF TAGGED GULF MENHADEN 



Paul J. Pristas,i Eldon J. Levi,^ and Robert L. Dryfoos^ 



ABSTRACT 



From 1969 to 1971 nearly 76,000 adult Gulf menhaden, Brevoortia patronus, were tagged in the 

 northern Gulf of Mexico with internal metallic tags. From an estimated 28,000 recaptures it was con- 

 cluded that there is little east- west movement of adult Gulf menhaden during the fishing season from 

 April to October, and that there is little mixing of menhaden from different areas when fish move off- 

 shore during the winter. Total mortality appears to be high, but could not be estimated from the re- 

 turns. Few Gulf menhaden survive more than 3 yr. 



Menhaden are industrial fish that are processed 

 into meal, oil, and solubles. From 1964 to 1973, 

 the annual purse seine catch of Gulf menhaden, 

 Brevoortia patronus, which support the largest 

 fishery in the United States, ranged from 316,000 

 to 728,000 metric tons. Scientists at the Atlan- 

 tic Estuarine Fisheries Center, National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, NOAA, Beaufort, N.C. have 

 been studying the fishery since 1964. 



A scientifically interesting question, as well as 

 one of practical importance from the standpoint 

 of resource management, is whether Gulf men- 

 haden make extensive coastal movements dur- 

 ing or between fishing seasons. To determine 

 their movements in the area 75,673 adults were 

 tagged from 1969 to 1971. In this paper we 

 analyze recoveries from these fish through the 

 1973 fishing season. 



FISHING AREAS 



Although Gulf menhaden range from southern 

 Florida to Veracruz, Mexico (Reintjes 1969), the 

 purse seine fishery extends only from western 

 Florida to extreme eastern Texas, with most 

 fishing effort being expended in inshore waters 

 from Mississippi to western Louisiana. The fish- 

 ing season lasts from about early April until early 

 October, but some plants may begin operations 

 in late March while others may not begin until 



^Atlantic Estuarine Fisheries Center, National Marine Fish- 

 eries Service, NOAA, Beaufort, NC 28516; present address: 

 Southeast Fisheries Center Panama City Laboratory, NMFS, 

 NOAA, Panama City, FL 32401. 



^Atlantic Estuarine Fisheries Center, NMFS, NOAA, Beaufort, 

 N.C; present address: Gulf Breeze Field Station, NMFS, NOAA, 

 Gulf Breeze, FL 32516. 



'Deceased. 



nearly May. For this study, we arbitrarily divided 

 the fishery into three areas (Figure 1). 



1. Western: waters and plants west of long. 

 92°W. 



2. Central: waters and plants west of the 

 mouth of the Mississippi River to long. 

 92°W. 



3. Eastern: waters and plants east of the 

 mouth of the Mississippi River to long. 

 86°W. 



Plants were located at Moss Point, Miss, (three 

 plants); in Louisiana — Empire (two plants), Dulac 

 (two plants), Morgan City (one plant), Intra- 

 coastal City (one plant), and Cameron (three 

 plants); and Sabine Pass, Tex. (one plant). The 

 plants at Empire were considered to be in the 

 central area. 



Because refrigerated carrier vessels may re- 

 main at sea up to 6 days and fish over a wide 

 area, we could not tell where their tagged fish 

 were caught but only where they were processed. 

 Two exceptions are one plant whose vessels 

 fished exclusively in the eastern area and another 

 plant whose vessels fished exclusively in the 

 western area. For tags recovered at these plants, 

 the area of capture was known. Although vessels 

 are far ranging and often travel long distances 

 to reported concentrations of fish, they tend to 

 fish most of the time within a restricted radius of 

 their plant. Most tagged fish, therefore, probably 

 were caught in the vicinity of the plant where the 

 tags were recovered. 



METHODS OF TAGGING 



Gulf menhaden, which spawn from about No- 



Manuscript accepted June 1975. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 74, NO. 1, 1976. 



112 



