McFarlane and King: Migration patterns of Squalus acanthias 



361 



areas: 51,063 fish tagged in the Strait of Georgia, 10,087 

 fish tagged off the west coast of Vancouver Island, and 9620 

 fish tagged in northern British Columbia waters (Table 2). 

 As of 31 December 2000, the total number of tagged fish 

 recaptured were 2454 (4.8%) for Strait of Georgia released 

 fish; 297 (2.9%) for the west coast of Vancouver Island 

 fish; and 190 (2.0%) for fish in northern British Columbia 

 waters (Table 2). 



Recoveries over time 



Approximately 93%, 96%, and 93% of the fish released 

 in the Strait of Georgia, west coast of Vancouver Island, 

 and northern British Columbia waters, respectively, were 

 recaptured in the first 10 years at liberty (Fig. 3). Most 

 recoveries (>70%) were made within <5 years after release 

 (Fig. 3). In the Strait of Georgia, 81% were recovered <5 

 years; for the west coast of Vancouver Island 88% were 

 recovered <4 years; and for northern British Columbia 

 waters 71% were recovered <5 years. The maximum time 

 at liberty was 19, 15, and 20 years for the Strait of Geor- 

 gia, west coast of Vancouver Island, and northern British 

 Columbia waters, respectively (Table 2). 



Movement of tagged fish outside of release areas 



Tagged spiny dogfish were recaptured throughout the 

 North Pacific, from Japan, through Alaska, south to Mexico 



(Fig. 4). A large number of recaptured fish were reported 

 from Puget Sound and Washington State coast (Table 3). 

 For fish released in the Strait of Georgia, only three fish 

 were recaptured outside of Canadian or Washington State 

 waters (Table 3). For fish released in coastal waters (west 

 coast of Vancouver Island and northern British Columbia), 

 a large number offish were recaptured in Japan («=18+11) 

 and United States waters, excluding Washington State 

 (n=n+5). Two fish tagged off the west coast of Vancouver 

 Island were recaptured in Mexico (Table 3). 



Movement between release areas 



Approximately 98% of the total number of recaptured fish 

 were recaptured in Canadian waters or Washington State 

 waters (coastal and Puget Sound). Because at least 70%- of 

 the recoveries occurred within the first 5 years at liberty 

 (Fig. 3), we compared movement between release areas 

 by examining the proportion of recaptured fish (percent- 

 age) at liberty for 5 years or less. For fish released in the 

 Strait of Georgia, the majority (91%) were recaptured in 

 the Strait of Georgia and another 5% off the west coast of 

 Vancouver Island (Table 4). Only 2% were recaptured in 

 northern British Columbia waters and 1% were recaptured 

 in Puget Sound or in Washington State coastal waters 

 (Table 4). For fish released off the west coast ofVancouver 

 Island, again the majority of recaptures (62%) were in the 

 area of release. A large percentage were recaptured in the 



