20 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



taken by commercial fishermen and two-fifths by anglers. Prac- 

 tically all of the recaptures from both experiments were made wfthin 

 the territorial Avaters of the States in which tagging was done, in- 

 dicating that the benefits of any coiiservation measures adopted by 

 these States will not be nullified by possible failure of adjacent 

 States to adopt equivalent measures. 



Since this is one of the hardier species, it is well adapted to conser- 

 vation measures based on selective fishing, that is, on protection of 

 those sizes which are more profitably allowed to grow as long as the 

 gains from growth more than balance the losses from natural mor- 

 tality. Further studies of this species wnll be directed toward an esti- 

 mate of the most desirable minimum size limit. 



ANADROMOUS FISHES 



Striped ham. — In April 1936, an investigation of the striped bass 

 was undertaken through the efforts of the Connecticut State Board of 

 Fisheries and Game. From the first this investigation has been con- 

 ducted on a cooperative basis. Connecticut sportsmen financed the 

 first 3 months of the work, the State Board of Fisheries and Game 

 then supported the investigation and the American Wildlife Institute 

 contributed a substantial sum in the spring of 1937, when a break in 

 the continuity of the work would have been a severe blow to its prog- 

 ress. In July 1937, the Bureau of Fisheries insured the financial 

 backing of the work for a full year from that date by the employment 

 of Daniel Merriman, w^ho had conducted this work for the Connecti- 

 cut Board of Fisheries and Game. Several Atlantic seaboard States 

 have contributed to the investigation, and every State frorn New 

 Hampshire to North Carolina has given its fullest cooperation in 

 some phase of the work. Particularly is this true of Maryland, with 

 its concurrent investigation on the striped bass under Dr. Vadim D. 

 Vladykov. The cooperation of North Carolina, through Mr. Chalk, 

 Commissioner of Inland Fisheries, and of various Long Island 

 fishing clubs has been invaluable. Massachusetts sportsmen have led 

 the way in collecting material on the striped bass through the efforts 

 of David A. Aylward, secretary of the Massachusetts Fish and Game 

 Association, and Oliver H. JP. Rodman, editor of Hunting and 

 Fishing. 



In colonial times the striped bass was very abundant along the 

 whole Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Nova Scotia. By 1850, 

 it had greatly declined in abundance and in recent years it has been 

 almost a rarity north of Chesapeake Bay. The decline was less 

 marked in the latter locality and in North Carolina, although serious 

 enough especially in the years between 1930 and 1936, to cause 

 concern. 



In 1936, however, unusual numbers of 2-year-old striped bass ap- 

 peared in Chesapeake Bay and also in New York and in southern New 

 England. Catch records indicate that abundance was greater in the 

 latter localities than at any time during the preceding 50 years. In 

 Chesapeake Bay the large catches of 2-year-old fish were preceded in 

 1935 by a great abundance of yearling bass, but careful inquiry failed 

 to disclose any evidence of a similar phenomenon in the more northern 

 localities. Tagging experiments showed that many of the 2-year-olds 



