Table 1 . — Releases (after slash) and returns (before slash) for white marlin tagged in the western North Atlantic Ocean by 



year and area of release. 





Cape Hatteras 



Oceanic 



SE Florida 



West Indies 



Gulf 



Caribbean 







to 



North 



and 



and 



of 









Year 



Cape Cod 



Atlantic 



NW Bahamas 



vicinity 1 



Mexico 



SE 



NW 



Total 



1954 



0/4 















0/4 



1955 



1/116 



— 



— 



0/8 



0/21 



— 



— 



1/145 



1956 



1/402 



— 



— 



0/3 



0/8 



— 



— 



1/413 



1957 



0/144 



0/1 



— 



— 



— 



— 



— 



0/145 



1958 



0/41 



— 



— 



— 



— 



— 



— 



0/41 



1959 



0/200 



— 



— 



— 



— 



0/2 



— 



0/202 



1960 



0/98 



— 



0/4 



0/1 



0/4 



0/4 



— 



0/111 



1961 



2/199 



— 



0/13 



0/9 



0/11 



0/30 



— 



2/262 



1962 



4/342 



— 



0/41 



— 



0/4 



— 



— 



4/387 



1963 



4/612 



0/3 



0/35 



— 



0/10 



— 



— 



4/660 



1964 



12/441 



0/5 



1/67 



— 



0/13 



— 



— 



13/526 



1965 



6/278 



— 



0/67 



0/5 



0/10 



2/25 



— 



8/385 



1966 



11/272 



0/6 



1/54 



0/4 



0/23 



2/149 





14/508 



1967 



6/277 



— 



0/88 



0/7 



1/46 



0/103 



— 



7/521 



1968 



18/701 



— 



1/95 



0/16 



0/56 



0/16 



— 



19/884 



1969 



20/1,216 



— 



2/86 



0/18 



2/35 



2/46 



— 



26/1,401 



1970 



16/838 



— 



2/49 



0/15 



0/24 



0/17 



0/4 



18/947 



1971 



12/823 



— 



0/56 



0/20 



0/18 



0/95 



0/4 



12/1,016 



2 1972 



0/18 



— 



0/36 



0/6 



0/4 



0/1 



0/1 



0/66 



Unknown 



5/5 



— 



— 



— 



1/1 



— 



— 



6/6 



Total 



118/7,027 



0/15 



7/691 



0/112 



4/288 



6/488 



0/9 



135/8,630 



'All releases after 1961 were off the Virgin Islands. 

 2 Through 20 July. 



From May 1970 through May 1972, 2.039 white 

 marlin and 216 blue marlin were tagged in the west- 

 ern North Atlantic. From these and earlier re- 

 leases, 70 valid returns from white marlin, and one 

 from a blue marlin, were received between May 

 1970 and 15 July 1972. These brought the cumula- 

 tive totals to 8,630 releases and 135 valid returns for 

 white marlin and 702 releases and 4 valid returns for 

 blue marlin. In addition, correct recapture data for 

 one earlier white marlin return were obtained and 

 the probable origin of a plastic ring found on the bill 

 of a white marlin caught in July 1959 has been 

 traced. Damaged or incomplete tags or reports of 

 tags recovered but not returned from 2 white marlin 

 and 1 blue marlin were also received. 



The release and recapture data for the new white 

 marlin returns, and the corrected data for one of 

 those previously reported, are shown in the Appen- 

 dix, along with the data for the blue marlin returns. 

 The total accumulated data are summarized in ta- 

 bles and charts as noted in the text. 



WHITE MARLIN 



Migrations 



The 70 new returns from white marlin added con- 

 siderably to the information obtained from the 65 

 tags returned in the 16 previous years (Mather et 

 al., 1972). The majority of the releases (1,687) again 

 occurred on the continental shelf between Cape 

 Hatteras and Cape Cod (Table 1). Other release 

 sites were off the northwestern Bahamas and 

 southeastern Florida (140), off Venezuela (114), in 

 the Gulf of Mexico (49), near the West Indies (the 

 Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico) (41), and off the 

 Yucatan Peninsula (9). 



All of the recaptures were again in the North At- 

 lantic west of long. 35°W, but their range was ex- 

 tended northward nearly to lat. 43°N, and south- 

 eastward to lat. 4°N, long. 40°W. Also, the first 

 three recaptures in the Gulf of Mexico of fish 

 tagged in the Cape Hatteras-Cape Cod area were 



212 



