206 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
extent of the region involved are considered. There is little doubt, 
furthermore, that the fish retaken represented even more than 4 per 
cent of the available supply of tagged fish, because it is regarded as 
reasonably certain that some of the released specimens must, shortly 
after liberation, have necessarily succumbed to the effects of pro- 
longed captivity; and, as has been shown, nearly 4 per cent of the tags 
used were such that their loss through natural agencies was likely. 
The question naturally arises, Were there any reasons why these 
tagged fish should be taken in relatively larger numbers than wild, 
untagged fish? And to this question an affirmative answer can probably 
be made with safety. 
When released, the tagged fish were for the most part thin and 
hungry, owing to captivity, spawning, and deficiency of food. It is 
therefore not unreasonable to expect that at first they fed with less 
caution than is normally exercised. But the acute hunger of a fish 
in a region of plenty is quickly appeased; and too large a percentage 
of the tagged fish were caught long after their liberation to warrant 
the belief that mere inordinate hunger resulting from their captivity 
could have been an important factor. 
A more probable factor in their capture was the partial domestica- 
tion arising from 2 to 4 months of captivity with artificial feeding, 
and the lowered vitality resulting from captivity, handling, spawning, 
and unaccustomed food. These conditions would undoubtedly have 
resulted in a loss of acumen in avoiding danger and in capturing natu- 
ral food, and would have made the tagged fish less cautious in taking 
the bait offered by the fishermen. 
While the known facts are entirely too meager to warrant sweeping 
conclusions on any of the points involved, it may not be uninteresting 
or altogether unprofitable to speculate as to the available cod supply 
in the region frequented by the tagged fish. 
Excluding the extensive fishing done on Georges Bank and in the 
South Channel, where only two of the tag-bearing cod were captured, it 
appears from the official statistics that the average annual catch of cod 
between southern Massachusetts and southern New Jersey is about 
20,000,000 pounds. The weight of the tagged fish released during four 
years was nearly 20,000 pounds, or about 5,000 pounds annually; and the 
aggregate weight of the tagged fish caught was approximately 805 
pounds, or 200 pounds each year. From the foregoing data it appears 
that if the same proportion prevailed for the entire catch of wild fish 
as for the tagged fish, the available annual supply of cod on the grounds 
in question is 500,000,000 pounds, thus: 
ble quantity of 
5,000 (the uty of 
tagged fish) 
x 200 (the annual 20,000,000 (the 
(the availablesup-;=; catch of tagged}: 4 annual catch of 
ply of wild fish ) fish ) wild fish). 
x = 500,000,000. 
