Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 471 



has been little or no fishing there. In Canada, except for limited offshore fishing by 

 surface drift nets, commercial fishing is practically restricted to fixed traps and gill nets 

 operated near shore, nowadays only in tidal waters. Occasionally Salmon are taken in 

 herring weirs, in trawling for ground fish on offshore banks, and in line fishing, for 

 instance in the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy (j<S). 



Even when they are taken in salt water there is no way of telling how far they 

 have traveled or from where they have come unless they bear a tag or mark and unless 

 the previous whereabouts of an individual fish so identified has been recorded. (Tagging 

 consists of attaching numbered tags to the fish; marking is the clipping of a fin or a 

 combination of fins.) In America, tagging and marking of specimens have been carried 

 out mainly in Canada, and to a lesser extent in Maine. Although river fish, both kelts 

 and smolts, have been used in most cases, some Atlantic Salmon caught at sea have 

 also been tagged. 



Numerous specimens tagged in their river of origin have been recaptured there 

 later, and although it is usually assumed that they return to their natal river, it is 

 known that they sometimes enter and subsequently leave rivers other than their own. 

 If tagged specimens are recaptured in the sea at some distance from the place of release, 

 it is usually assumed that they are returning to their river of origin ; this may be true 

 if they have the ability to direct their course; otherwise they may be merely wandering. 



Studies indicate that some of them remain relatively close to their river of origin, 

 whereas others travel various distances to feeding grounds, often hundreds of miles 

 away. Such a variable pattern of dispersal has been shown by results from the tagging 

 and release of nearly 12,000 kelts by the Canada Department of Fisheries between 

 1 91 3 and 1936 in 12 localities of the Maritime Provinces. Of those recaptured, some, 

 notably those of the St. John River, N. B., were recaptured within or close to the 

 estuary, and others were taken at various distances from the point of release, even as far 

 as Newfoundland and Labrador {62: 96; 6^'. 311; 5<5). The meaning of these results 

 is not clear. We can only guess how many of those found in or near the streams in 

 which they had been tagged may have been to some distant point (such as Newfound- 

 land) and returned. That not all had undertaken far journeys is suggested by the fact 

 that none of the St. John fish was recaptured more than 50 miles from the St. John 

 River mouth. 



A wide distributional pattern has also been shown by the marking of smolts from 

 a number of rivers and by their subsequent recapture at sea as adults. Thus Atlantic 

 Salmon that developed from hatchery stock planted in the Pollett River (Petitcodiac 

 River system at the head of the Bay of Fundy) were taken in quantity by fishermen 

 over a wide area, including trap nets around Newfoundland, and drift nets off Mirami- 

 chi, northern New Brunswick. 



Based on smolts marked in the Miramichi River, N.B., and recaptured as adults, 

 it has been estimated from one experiment that approximately one-third of the total 

 catch of Miramichi stock was taken off Newfoundland and Labrador in commercial 

 nets, about three-fifths in the Miramichi area in commercial nets and by freshwater 



