smaller at time of tagging than most of the fish sexed, they may have had greater initial mortality following 

 tagging, shed tags at a greater rate than larger fish, or were less vulnerable to capture. Many of them were 

 probably smaller females since their movements tended to be similar to that of mature females. Propor- 

 tionately, more females smd fish of undetermined sex were taken from distant locations than males. Since 

 even small males were readily sexed during the spawning season, it is likely that most of them were 

 identified when tagged. 



Total 



490" 



292 



408 



26 



10 



1,226 



* Includes recaptures from the CT DEP, Project Oceanology, and unknown sources. 

 Month of one recapture not known. 



Most (70%) of the returns were from waters near MNPS (Table 20). Similar to the 1973-74 study, 

 movement out of the area tended to be to the east as about three times as many recaptures occurred there 

 in comparison to the west. Most fish were taken in Fishers Island and Block Island Sounds, but 23 winter 

 flounder were taken in waters near Martha's Vineyard and on Nantucket Shoals. One fish was caught off 

 Cape Cod in February 1983 and in February 1985 one specimen was caught on Georges Bank. This 

 specimen plus the very large 8-yr old mentioned above indicated that a very small interchange may occur 

 between inshore and offshore stocks. Howe and Coates (1975) reported that a few percent of the winter 

 flounder they tagged in inshore waters of southern Massachusetts were recaptured on Georges Bank and 

 vice versa. Georges Bank winter flounder are usually recognized as a distinct race (Perlmutter 1947; Lux 

 et al. 1970). 



56 



