of St. Lawrence. Similarly, adult witch flounder 

 have been reported concentrated in the deepwater 

 of St. Georges Bay, NAFO Division 4R during the 

 summer months where a localized fishery occurs in 

 depths of 300 m (Bowering and Brodie 1984). 



In conclusion, juvenile witch flounder are distri- 

 buted differently than the adult population off con- 

 tinental shelf areas of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 However, the two populations are not discretely 

 separated as proposed by Powles and Kohler's 

 (1970) niche separation hypothesis. Bowers (1960) 

 concluded that witch flounder in the Irish Sea have 

 no definitive separation. Heavy exploitation of 

 juvenile witch flounder is prevented by the behavior 

 of this size group making them less vulnerable to 

 commercial otter trawls. The difference may be 

 related to difference in preferred food items or dis- 

 tribution of predators. Further research is required 

 to establish the mechanisms for the difference in 

 depth distribution documented by this study. 



the slope off Virginia. J. Fish Res. Board Can. 32:1447- 

 1450. 

 Powles, P. M., and A. C. Kohler. 



1970. Depth distribution of various stages of witch flounder 

 (Glypocephalus cynoglossus) off Nova Scotia and in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence. J. Fish Res. Board Can. 27:2053-2062. 

 SlEGEL, S. 



1956. Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. 

 McGraw-Hill Book Co., N.Y., 312 p. 

 Squires, H. J. 



1961. Shrimp survey in the Newfoundland fishing area, 1957 

 and 1958. Bull. Fish Res. Board Can. 129:vii -i- 29 p. 

 Walsh, S. J. 



1984. Relative efficiency of two bottom trawls in catching 

 juvenile and commercial sized flatfishes in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence. J. Northw. Atl. Fish Sci. 5:181-188. 



S. J. Walsh 



Science Branch 



Department of Fisheries and Oceans 



P.O. Box 5667 



St. John's, Newfoundland AlC 5X1, Canada 



Acknowledgments 



Special thanks for informative suggestions from 

 J. A. Brown, MSRL. I am grateful to Jake Rice of 

 the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Center and two 

 other referees for constructive comments and 

 criticisms. 



Literature Cited 



Beacham, T. D. 



1983. Variability in size and age at sexual maturity of witch 

 flounder, Glyptocephalus cynoglossus, in the Canadian Mari- 

 times region of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Can. Field- 

 Nat. 97(4):409-422. 



Bowering, W. R., and W. B. Brodie. 



1980. An evaluation of recent management strategy for witch 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (NAFO Div. 4RS). CAFSAC 

 Res. Doc. 80/49, 20 p. 



1984. Distribution of witch flounder in the northern Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence and changes in its growth and sexual matur- 

 ity patterns. North Am. J. Fish. Manage. 4A:399-413. 



Bowering, W. R., and T. K. Pitt. 



1974. An assessment of witch (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus) 

 for ICNAF Div. 2J-3KL. ICNAF Res. Doc. 74/48, Ser. No. 

 3255, 7 p. 



Bowers, A. B. 



1960. Growth of the witch {Glyptocephalus cynoglossus L.) 



in the Irish Sea. J. Cons. Perm. Int. Explor. Mer 25:168- 



176. 

 Lafleur, p. E., and J. P. Lussiaa-Berdou. 



1982. La plie grise (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus) dans le nord 



du Golfe du Saint-Laurent (Div. 4R et 4S de I'opano). Donnes 



sur I'ecologie et I'exploitation. Gov. Quebec Minist. Agric. 



Pecheries aliment., Cah. Inf. No. 97, 30 p. 

 Markle, D. F. 



1975. Young witch flounder, Glyptocephalus cynoglossus, on 



MOVEMENT OF TAGGED LINGCOD, 



OPHIODON ELONGATUS, 



IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 



Lingcod, Ophiodon elongatus, is a commercially and 

 recreationally important West Coast species. Most 

 previous studies have indicated that lingcod is a 

 relatively nonmigratory species (Hart 1943; Chat- 

 win 1956; Phillips 1959). More than 90% of the 

 adults remained within 5 mi (8.1 km) of the point 

 of tagging for as long as several years. 



We tagged lingcod in the eastern Strait of Juan 

 de Fuca and near San Juan Island, WA, from 1976 

 and 1981. We present results from tags returned 

 by fishermen through 1985. The tag returns were 

 analyzed primarily to show the extent of migration. 

 We also analyzed recaptures by sex, size, direction 

 of movement, and the effects of tag type and the 

 location of tagging. 



Methods 



From 1976 to 1978, relatively small numbers of 

 lingcod were tagged, incidental to a tagging study 

 directed to rockfish {Sebastes sp.) (Mathews and 

 Barker 1984), in which rod-and-reel with artificial 

 lures was used to capture fish for tagging. From 

 1979 to 1981 tagging effort was for lingcod using 

 a chartered commercial vessel trolling with a string 

 of 6-10 jigs or other artificial lures from a hydraulic 

 gurdy. 



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