34 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



0.005-inch transparent celluloid, so that the numbers and legends were covered 

 and protected. The first 1,500 tags bore the words, RETURN TO FISH & GAME, 

 HARTFORD, CONN. In the remaining tags this inscription was changed to, 

 RETURN TAG, etc., etc., since it was found that a certain number of returns were 

 being lost because the original wording was sufficiently misleading so that some 

 individuals thought the whole fish should be sent in and were unwilling to part with 

 their catch. Each tag was attached to the fish by means of a pin. This pin was put 

 through the center hole in one disc and pushed through the flesh of the back between 

 the two dorsal fins — one-fourth to one-half inch below the dorsal contour of the body — 

 in a horizontal plane. The matching disc was then put on that part of the pin that 



POUND NET CATCHES 

 AT FORT POND BAY, 

 LONG ISLAND, N. Y. 

 BY FIVE -YEAR PERIODS 



18 84—1928 



I -— T 



18 9 4-1898 



18 9 9-1903 



19 4 - I 9 OS 



19 09-1913 



'914-1918 



19 19-1923 



1924 — 1926 



APR I MflfTjUNt I JULY~ I AUG I f, E P 1 I OCT 



Figure 24.— Numbers of striped bass caught in the. pound nets at Fort Pond Bay, L. I., N. Y., from 1884 to 1928, for each 5 days 

 during the fishing season, by 5-year periods. The catches have been weighted to make them equivalent to a fishing intensity 

 of 10 pound-nets throughout (see figure 4, table 4). Note that the catches are made only in the spring and fall of the year 

 It is of interest to note that the size of the spring catches has shown a sharp decline over the period covered by this record, while 

 the size of the fall catches has remained about the same during this time. 



had come through the flesh on the other side of the body, and the pin was crimped 

 over with a pair of finely pointed pliers in such a way that both discs fitted closely 

 against the back of the fish. The printing on the tags was faced out so that it was 

 immediately evident. It sometimes happened, however, that over periods of more 

 than several months Bryozoans and other forms attached themselves to the tags 

 and obscured the printing and even the color of the discs, so that it was necessary to 

 scrape the entire surface with a sharp knife before the inscription became legible. 

 Mussels (Mytilus edulis) over 1 cm. long have been found on the tags at times, and 

 barnacles (Balanus balanoides) covering the entire disc were by no means uncommon. 

 It became evident from the recapture of tagged individuals that it was best to crimp 

 the pin to such a degree that there was less than one-sixteenth of an inch of free space 



