38 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



and in seines and on hook and line on the south side of Long Island. The number of 

 returns from Montauk reached a peak during the first 10 days of November. There- 

 after tags were sent in from bass caught progressively farther south as time went on. 

 No marked fish were caught north and east of the original point of release during 

 the fall and whiter, and it was plainly evident from the examination of commercial 

 fishermen's catch records, as well as from tag returns, that an intensive migration to 

 the south had taken place. Scattered returns of tags throughout the winter and early 

 spring months from New Jersey, Delaware, the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, and 

 North Carolina showed that striped bass may go great distances on their southern 

 migration. 



In 1937 added tagging experiments were undertaken in Connecticut and Long 

 Island waters to obtain additional information on the northern migration in the spring 

 and the return to tbe south in the fall. A group of 103 striped bass were marked and 

 released at Montauk, Long Island, N. Y., from May 15 to 19, 1937, and 14 of these, 

 13.6 percent were subsequently recaptured. None of these returns came from points 

 to the south of Montauk, all recaptures being in Long Island Sound, on the New York 



Figuhe 27 .—Migration routes o( striped bass tagged ami released at Montauk, L.I., N. Y.. May 16-19, 1937. The number of fish 

 tagged was 103, the number of returns 14 (13-6 percent of the total). Note that there were no returns from the south, and con- 

 trast with the results of tagging from the same area in the fall as shown in figure 2S (see table 18) . 



and Connecticut coasts, or from Ehode Island and Massachusetts (see fig. 27 and 

 table 18). Such results gave added evidence that these bass were being tagged near 

 the end of their northern migration, and that an eastward extension of tins movement 

 was still taking place in May and June. 



From October 25 to 27, 1937, 303 bass were marked and released at Montauk, 

 from the same nets and in exactly the same place as those that were tagged in the 

 spring. Six months later 95, 31.3 percent, of these fish had been reported. The 

 oidy recaptures to the north of the point of release, until the following spring, occurred 

 almost immediately after tagging took place and were so few in number and so minor 

 in scope that they may be considered insignificant. The longest movement to the 

 north that was recorded in the fall was less than 10 miles. On the other hand, recap- 

 tures to the south and west of the area where the tagged fish were released were so 

 numerous as to make it certain that these fish were taking part in an intensive southern 

 migration at that time of year (see fig. 28 and table 19). Many returns in the fall, 

 winter, and early spring months from the south side of Long Island, New Jersey, 

 Delaware, Chesapeake Bay, and North Carolina as far south as Pamlico Sound, 

 indicated the approximate extent and speed of the migration, and further amplified 



