STUDIES ON THE STRIPED BASS OF THE ATLANTIC COAST 



45 



which supports the conclusion that North Carolina does not contribute directly more 

 than a small percentage to the supply summering in the north. In general the results 

 of these experiments substantiate this view as far as they go. In one of the experi- 

 ments a total of 506 juvenile and small yearlings — fish that were just becoming 1- and 

 2-year-olds — were tagged internally in the general region of the Sutton Beach haul- 

 seine fishery, between the mouths of the Chowan and Roanoke Rivers in the western 

 end of Albemarle Sound, N. C, with the idea that subsequent recaptures of these 

 fish would demonstrate to what extent bass from this region contribute to the popula- 

 tions farther north. These fish were tagged from April 18 to 28, 1938, and 47 were 

 recaptured in the same area before the fishery closed in May. Several others were 

 taken within a short distance of the point of release in the spring, thus indicating that 

 this method of tagging striped bass is satisfactory, at least for short-time returns. 

 It is hoped that the internal tags will also prove satisfactory for long-time returns, 

 as they have in some other species, so that it will be possible to prove the amount of 

 North Carolina's contribution to northern waters over a period of years. The other 

 tagging experiment in North Carolina during March and April 1938, was conducted 

 partially at the extreme eastern end of Albemarle Sound and mostly on the outer 

 coast in the general region of Kitty Hawk and Nags Head. In this experiment, 600 

 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old striped bass, of which the great majority were 2-year-olds, were 

 marked with the external disc tags. Of these, 62 were caught in the same general 



PERCENTAGES OF SMALL. MEDIUM 

 AND LARGE STRIPED BASS MAKING 

 UP THE ANNUAL CATCH BY SEINE 

 AT POINT JUDITH, R.I . 1928-1937 



LEFT COLUMN IN EACH TEAR IS FOR 

 APRIL + MAY. 

 RIGHT COLUMN IN EACH YEAR IS FOR 

 JUNE - NOV. 



I9S2 I93S 



YEARS 



Figure 31. — The percentages of small, medium, and large striped bass making up the annual catch by seine before and after June 

 at Point Judith, R. I., from 1928 to 1937. The left-hand column is for April and May, and the right-hand column for June to 

 November in each year. See Figure 8 for the same material graphed in terms of actual numbers instead of percentages. 



area within a short time after they had been tagged, and 46 were again released. By 

 June 15, 1938, there had been 45 returns from these 600 tagged fish from areas some 

 distance away from the point of release. Despite the fact that these fish were tagged 

 at the time of the spring migration to the north, they did not show an intensive one- 

 way movement such as has been proven to take place, for example, in northern waters 

 by tagging in the fall. Thus 24 of the 45 returns were from Pamlico, Croatan, and 

 Albemarle Sounds, indicating that many of the fish tagged on the outer coast moved 

 south and west, some of them being taken in the extreme western tip of Albemarle 

 Sound. The remaining 21 returns came from areas to the north of the point of release; 

 9 came from the Virginia Beach region; 8 from well into Chesapeake Bay (mainly from 

 the James River and Rappahannock River sections) ; and 4 from more northern wa- 

 ters — 2 from New Jersey, 1 from Wainscott, Long Island, N. Y., and the other from 

 Point Judith, R. I. Had there been a heavy migration to the north at this time from 

 this area, it seems reasonable to expect that in view of the highly intensive fishery for 

 this species as shown by the percentage of recapture from other tagging experiments, 

 there would have been a far greater number of returns from more northern waters. 

 That this tagging experiment was not conducted at a time that was too late to coin- 

 cide with the bulk of the spring migration to the north seems virtually certain, in view 

 of the fact that tagging was started as soon as the outer-coast fishermen began to 

 catch striped bass and was not concluded until the catches had dwindled so that few 

 bass were being taken. Further evidence along this line appears in tables 22A, 22B, 



