PRISTAS ET AL.: RETURNS OF TAGGED GULF MENHADEN 



and 32%), since tagging mortality tends to be 

 greater for small Atlantic menhaden than for 

 large ones (Kroger and Dryfoos 1972), and the 

 fish tagged in 1969 were generally smaller than 

 those tagged in spring of 1970 or autumn of 1969. 

 It is unlikely that more than a small percentage 

 of any year class survive more than 3 yr Less than 

 2% of the estimated returns of fish tagged in 

 spring, and 7% of the returns of fish tagged in 

 autumn were recovered after the second year 

 Because of the tendency of tags to hang up in 

 plants, the majority of tags recovered after the 

 second year probably had come from fish caught 

 in the first or second season after being tagged. 

 If tags that hung up for 1 yr averaged 1.5% and 

 for 2 yr or more 0.2%, and if recovery efficiencies 

 averaged 50%, hung up tags could account for 

 nearly all tags reportedly recovered after 2 yr. 

 Since the majority of fish tagged were in the size 

 class of age- 1 fish, the percentage of returns after 

 2 yr should have been higher than it was if any 

 significant number survived more than 3 yr. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Only a project report based on returns through 



July 1971 had been prepared before the authors 

 transferred to other laboratories and work on the 

 manuscript was temporarily suspended. Revi- 

 sion had just begun when Robert L. Dryfoos died 

 suddenly in January 1974. William R. Nicholson 

 and Robert M. Lewis, Atlantic Estuarine Fisheries 

 Center, Beaufort, N.C., prepared the 1971-73 

 returns for the computer programs, incorporated 

 them into the previous data, and assisted in re- 

 vising and editing the final manuscript. 



LITERATURE CITED 



KROGER, R. L., AND R. L. DRYFOOS. 



1972. Tagging and tag-recovery experiments with Atlan- 

 tic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus. U.S. Dep. Commer, 

 NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS SSRF-664, 11 p. 



Parker, R. O., Jr. 



1973. Menhaden tagging and recovery: Part II — Re- 

 covery of internal ferromagnetic tags used to mark men- 

 haden, genns Brevoortia . Mar. Fish Rev. 35 (5-6):36-39. 



PRISTAS, P. J., AND T D. WILLIS. 



1973. Menhaden tagging and recovery: Part I — Field 

 methods for tagging menhaden, genus Brevoortia. 

 Mar. Fish Rev 35(5-6):31-35. 

 REINTJES, J. W. 



1969. The Gulf menhaden and our changing estuaries. 

 Proc. Gulf Caribb. Fish. Inst., 22nd Annu. Sess., p. 87-90. 



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