94 U.S. BUEEAU OF FISHERIES 



experiments to determine whether squeteague eggs are capable of 

 hatching at the temperatures usually prevailing in Delaware Bay 

 during the spawning season. 



It has proved difficult to test the view that northern stocks of 

 squeteague are largely recruited by migration of 2-year-olds from the 

 South, by tagging squeteague in southern waters. The species is so 

 soft-fleshed and so weak-boned that external tags are not retained in 

 adequate numbers for longer than a few weeks. In 1930 Mr. Nesbit 

 devised a new method of tagging which was first used successfully 

 with squeteague in 1931. This consists of inserting a strip of colored 

 celluloid into the body cavity of the fish through a small incision in 

 the body wall. Each strip bears a notice of reward, a return address, 

 and an identifying number. 



Of approximately 900 slow-growing yearling squeteague tagged in 

 this manner by W. C. Schroeder in Chesapeake Bay in 1931, 18 were 

 recaptured in 1932. None was retaken north of Delaware Bay. 

 However, since the New Jersey and New York catches in 1932 

 included very few slow-growing, 2-year-old fish, the hypothesis cannot 

 yet be regarded as disproved, for the origin of these sporadic incur- 

 sions can be determined only in the years in which they occur. In a 

 further attempt to test this hypothesis, approximately 1,900 sque- 

 teague were tagged in the same manner in October 1932 in Pamlico 

 Sound, N.C. 



In order to determine whether the minor increments of yearlings 

 to the New Jersey and New York stocks are derived from the juve- 

 niles observed each autumn in northern New Jersey and New York, 

 approximately 1,900 juveniles were tagged in October 1932 near 

 Montauk, N.Y. 



Should the results of tagging experiments eventually justify the 

 view that many or most of the squeteague taken in New York and 

 New Jersey are immigrants from the South, it will be desirable to 

 estimate the relative contributions of the southern and of the local 

 nursery areas. The differences in rate of growth are sufficient to 

 make this possible if the growth increments of the earlier years can 

 be calculated accurately from the position of the year rings in the 

 scales. Such calculations can be made only if the relation of scale 

 growth to the growth of the body be understood thoroughly. Earher 

 observations of this relation were checked by a number of experiments 

 at the Woods Hole laboratory of the Bureau, and at the laboratory 

 of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and were found to be 

 correct. Thus, there has been established a sound basis for separating 

 the two types of increment to the squeteague stocks of the region, not 

 only in the year in which they first appear but in subsequent years as 

 well. 



Scwp. — In the annual report for 1931, it was shown that although 

 the yield of scup in the summer pound-net fishery has been subject to 

 wide fluctuations, this species has demonstrated its ability to recover 

 naturally from low levels of abundance. The pound-net catch of New 

 Jersey rose by the influx of successful broods from one of the lowest 

 on record in 1928 (316,000 pounds) to a new high level of 4,100,000 

 pounds in 1931 . According to preliminary statistics, the yield of 1932 

 was only moderately less than the record catch of 1931. These higher 

 yields represent actual increases in abundance, for there was no cor- 

 responding increase in intensity of fishing. 



