Table 2. — Returns from tagged white marlin, by fishery 

 and nationality of recapturing vessel. Returns in Column A 

 were listed by Mather et al., 1972; those in column B were 

 received subsequently. 



(1972) in order to obtain better seasonal separation 

 of returns, but these changes do not alter the group- 

 ing of returns in that paper. The areas (Fig. 1) are as 

 follows: 



Type of fishery 



Country 



Number of returns 







A 



B 



Total 



Sport fishery 



United States 



24 



20 



44 



(rod and reel) 



Jamaica 





1 



1 





Venezuela 



24 



1 



22 



1 



Total 



46 



Commercial fishery 



Canada 



1 



2 



3 



(Japanese and 



Cuba 



14 



5 



19 



modified 



France 



1 





1 



longlines. 



Japan 



13 



30 



43 



handlines) 



Norway 



2 





2 





South Korea 



2 



5 



7 





United States 



1 





1 





Venezuela 



7 



6 



13 



Total 





41 



48 



89 



Grand total 





65 



70 



135 



recorded. Much new information was gained on the 

 offshore movements of white marlin from the conti- 

 nental shelf in the latter area in September and Oc- 

 tober. Although most of the returns from this group 

 of fish fitted the pattern proposed for it by Mather 

 et al. (1972), the first major deviations from this 

 pattern were noted. Likewise, some of the returns 

 from releases in southern waters fitted with previ- 

 ous indications, but a few did not. 



As in the earlier years, about two-thirds of the 

 recent white marlin returns were from commercial 

 fisheries, and about one-third from sport fisheries 

 (Table 2). In contrast to the earlier period, how- 

 ever, 30 of the commercial returns (over half of the 

 total) were from the Japanese longline fishery, 

 while the Cuban, South Korean, and Venezuelan 

 fisheries each returned 5 or 6 tags. The increase in 

 Japanese returns was due largely to a very heavy 

 concentration of effort in September and October 

 f971 in the offshore waters between Cape Hatteras 

 and Georges Bank, which produced 17 returns, and 

 to possibly increased effort in the Gulf of Mexico in 

 the late spring and summer of 1971, when 5 tags 

 were recovered. 



As in Mather et al. (1972), the returns are divided 

 into four groups, according to release and recapture 

 areas. The boundaries of these areas have been 

 changed slightly from those used by Mather et al. 



Area A— north of lat. 33°N, 

 Area B— lat. 18°N to lat. 33°N, 

 Area C— south of lat. 18°N. 



Sixty of the new returns were from releases on 

 the continental shelf between Cape Hatteras and 

 Cape Cod (Area A), bringing the total for this group 

 to 118. Thirty-six of these were recaptured in the 

 warm season (June-October) in Area A (Group A), 



16 in Area B (1 in January, 37 in March-August) 

 (Group B), and 8 in Area C (October-May) (Group 

 C) bringing the respective totals to 60, 38, and 20. 

 Ten of the new recaptures were from releases in 

 Areas B and C (south of lat. 33°N) (Group D) bring- 

 ing the total for this group to 17. The recaptures in 

 these four groups are discussed below. 



Group A. — The new recaptures in Group A (Fig. 

 1, Appendix Table 1) comprise 19 from inside the 

 1,000 fathom (1,830 m) contour (June-October) and 



17 from outside it (June, July, September, October) 

 bringing the respective totals to 41 and 19 (Appen- 

 dix Table 1). 



The new recaptures inside the 1,000 fathom con- 

 tour give further evidence of the movements offish 

 within this area, and also of the regular seasonal 

 return offish to it, often during several summers. 



The new recaptures (3 in June, 2 in July, 4 in 

 August, 9 in September, and 1 in October) spread 

 over more of the year than the earlier ones (2 in 

 July, 17 in August, and 3 in September). The new 

 recaptures in June and September were from sport- 

 fishing boats, but the one in October was from a 

 longliner. A new recapture at the edge of the Nova 

 Scotia Banks in August was north and east of any 

 previously recorded on the continental shelf. Like 

 an earlier return from the edge of Georges Bank, 

 this merely reflects the sparsely documented (Leim 

 and Scott, 1966) fact that, whereas the coastal oc- 

 currence of white marlin ends at Cape Cod, the 

 species occurs far to the east and north, along the 

 edges of the banks, during the summer. 



The recaptures within the year of release (Fig. 2) 

 show that the fish move extensively, and in various 

 directions, within this summer habitat. Those in 

 subsequent years show that fish return to the area 

 seasonally with considerable regularity, and may be 



213 



