Shepherd et al : Migration routes of Pomatomus saltotnx along the Atlantic coast 



565 



fish after one year at liberty, and all 

 but two of these were from releases in 

 this area. The higher percentage of re- 

 captured fish from Florida may reflect 

 greater annual fishing effort in contrast 

 to northern areas. 



Seasonal recaptures of tagged bluefish 

 along the coast (Fig. 6 1 were a function 

 of both fishing effort and the abundance 

 of tagged fish in the area. Over ninety- 

 one percent of all recaptured NMFS fish 

 (978 of 1,075) were caught in inshore ar- 

 eas (including Chesapeake Bay, Delaware 

 Bay, and Long Island Sound) or within 

 one mile of the coast. Of the remaining 

 99 recaptures: one fish was caught 75 

 miles offshore and the rest within 30 

 miles of the coast; 47 between 1 and 6 

 miles, 40 between 6 and 20 miles, and 

 9 between 20 and 30 miles. Tagged fish 

 released in New York and New Jersey 

 accounted for 45 of the 50 returns over 6 

 miles offshore; 4 of those remaining fish 

 were both released and recaptured off 

 Florida, and the last fish had been re- 

 leased in Florida and recaptured off New 

 Jersey. All of these 45 returns released 

 from New York and New Jersey were 

 recovered north of Delav/are — most off 

 New Jersey and New York. The offshore 

 returns occurred from May through No- 

 vember, although most of the fall recap- 

 tured fish had been released during the 

 same season (21 of the 23 recaptures 

 in September, October, and November), 

 whereas most spring and summer recap- 

 tured fish had been at liberty for at least 

 one year (19 of the 22 recaptures from 

 May though July). 



Seasonal patterns of bluefish migra- 

 tion, determined from information within 

 recovered tags, generally followed one of 

 three patterns: north-south between the 

 northern Middle-Atlantic and Florida; a 

 north-south pattern within the Middle- 

 Atlantic; and year round movements be- 

 tween inshore and offshore Florida. To 

 simplify examination of migration pat- 

 terns, recapture locations were divided 

 into three regions. The area from Dela- 

 ware to New England was designated 

 the northern region, Maryland through 

 North Carolina as the central region, 

 and the area between South Carolina 

 and southern Florida as the southern 

 region. The single fish recovered in west- 

 ern Florida was ignored for our analysis. A recovery 

 matrix by region showed that greater than 90% of the 

 bluefish recaptured within the northern or southern 

 region had originated within the same region (Table 4). 



However, within the central region, the percentage of 

 recaptured fish originating in that region was only 

 80.37f . The remaining tags were either recaptured to 

 the north (12.7%) or the south (7.0%). Distribution maps 



