Figure 3,- -Tagging areas established for 1960 field tests along the Maine coast. Stars indicate tagging sites. 



tag recovered after 391 days at sea were 

 clearly legible, and there was no perceptible 

 change in the tag. 



DISCUSSION 



Immature or "sardine" herring were first 

 tagged in the eastern Maine-New Brunswick 

 area by McKenzle and Skud (1958), who used a 

 maroon celluloid opercular tag described by 

 McKenzie (1950). The tag was subsequently 

 used by McKenzie and Tibbo (1961) who re- 

 ported a maximum time to recovery of 165 

 days. Graham (1929) concluded from aquarium 

 studies that a dorsal or caudal tag location 

 was superior to the operculum, and for the 

 insertion of the polyvinyl loop described in 

 this paper the dorsal position on the herring 

 was chosen as offering thicker musculature 

 for attachment than the caudal area. 



Bright yellow was chosen for the color of 

 the tag because recoveries were expected 

 from persons working in the canneries. Wood, 

 Parrish, and McPherson (1955) have shown 

 that Scottish herring tags of bright yellow. 



red and bright yellow, and blue and bright 

 yellow give significantly higher recoveries 

 than red or amber tags. They note from ship- 

 board experiments that although bright yellow 

 and amber have very similar absorption 

 spectra, the bright yellow tag was much more 

 conspicuous in a mass of herring. 



The effect of color upon recoveries of the 

 polyvinyl chloride tag at Maine canneries 

 was tested in August 1962 at Isle au Haut 

 (Area II). A total of 1,200 tagged fish was 

 released composed of 400 each of the colors 

 scarlet, green, and yellow. During the first 

 2 months after release, recoveries at sardine 

 canneries were 24 yellow tags, 14 green, and 

 2 scarlet. 



The number of recoveries in Areas I and II 

 were directly related to quantities of fish 

 caught in those areas. In Area I, 200,000 

 bushels of herring were caught in 1960 follow- 

 ing tag releases and 1.7 percent of the tags 

 were returned. Area II with a catch of 400,000 

 bushels gave a recovery rate of 2.7 percent, 

 even though only half as many tags were 

 released. 



