Movements of Tagged Summer Flounder, 



Paralichthys dentatus, off 



Southern New England 



F. E. LUX and F. E. NICHY 1 



ABSTRACT 



A total of 2,839 summer flounder were tagged on outer continental shelf and coastal grounds off southern New 

 England in 1961-62. Tag recaptures showed the migration to offshore grounds in fall and winter and to inshore areas 

 in spring and summer. Recaptures from coastal grounds were recorded from northern New Jersey to south of Cape 

 Cod; those from outer shelf grounds were from Baltimore Canyon on the southwest to Veatch Canyon on the north- 

 east. The overall lag return rate was 21.2%; however, the returns from inshore lagging (44.5%) were much higher 

 than those from offshore releases (8.4%), suggesting that tagging mortality was higher offshore. 



INTRODUCTION 



Adults of summer flounder, Paralichthys dentatus, are found 

 in Atlantic coastal waters from Maine to Florida (Bigelow and 

 Schroeder 1953; Wilk et al. 1980). They are most abundant in 

 the Middle Atlantic Bight, the coastal concavity between Cape 

 Cod and Cape Hatteras, where they are fished intensively (Fig. 

 1). From late spring to fall summer flounder are sought by 

 recreational and commercial fishermen in coastal areas; from 

 December to April they are fished by otter trawlers along the 

 outer continental shelf edge. Vessels from New Jersey to 

 Virginia fish this species in the southern part of the bight; those 

 from New York and New England fish the areas from Long 

 Island to south of Cape Cod. 



The reported commercial catch of summer flounder in 1979 

 was 13,932 t, of which 3,220 t were taken within 3 mi (5.5 km) 

 from shore and 10,712 t were from waters beyond 3 mi but 

 within the 200-mi (370 km) conservation zone (Pileggi and 

 Thompson 1980). The recreational catch for 1979, which we 

 estimated from angler survey data (National Marine Fisheries 

 Service 1980), was about 10,000 t. 



Young-of-the-year summer flounder occur sporadically in 

 bays from southern New England to New Jersey; however, the 

 principal nursery grounds are in estuaries and bays of Virginia 

 and North Carolina (Poole 1966). The fish apparently disperse 

 northward as they grow older and make up the stocks that are 

 exploited in the northern part of the bight. Fish <25 cm in 

 length are uncommon in New York waters (Westman and 

 Neville 1946). This also appears true of southern New 

 England; we measured samples from commercial otter trawl 

 catches of this species there in 1960-62 and found no fish <28 

 cm long in 18 trips from offshore areas and 5 from inshore 

 areas. This was not due to discarding the smaller fish, since the 

 entire catch of New England summer flounder is marketed. The 

 cod end mesh sizes in the trawls for the 23 trips were mostly 1 14 

 mm or less and would have retained flounders smaller than 28 

 cm (Lux 1968). National Marine Fisheries Service otter trawl 

 survey catches in 1964-79 off southern New England, using 15 



mm mesh cod ends, also showed a scarcity of summer flounder 

 <28 cm long. 2 



Marking studies off New York and New Jersey have shown 

 the seasonal pattern of movement of this species: In the fall 

 from coastal areas to the outer continental shelf winter grounds, 

 and in the spring returning to the coast (Westman and Neville 

 1946; Poole 1962; Murawski 1970 3 ). These studies also indicated 

 that with the passage of time the tagged fish tended to be caught 

 farther to the north within the bight. 



To learn more about the seasonal and long-term movements 

 of summer flounder off southern New England, we tagged 2,839 

 of these fish on both coastal and offshore grounds in 1961-62. 

 The results of this study are reported here. 



TAGGING PROCEDURE 



The summer flounder for tagging were caught with otter 

 trawls. For the offshore tagging we used the Bureau of Com- 

 mercial Fisheries' RV Delaware. For the inshore tagging we 

 used commerical otter trawlers. Tow length varied from 30 to 60 

 min. On the Delaware the fish were held in tanks of running 

 seawater until tagged, whereupon they were immediately re- 

 leased. On the commercial vessels the fish were tagged from the 

 net as they were brought aboard and then immediately released. 

 Total length in millimeters, date, and tagging location were 

 recorded for each tagged fish. All of the summer flounder 

 caught were tagged, except for the small number, of various 

 sizes, whose physical appearance indicated that they were mori- 

 bund. Therefore the tagged population was considered represen- 

 tative of the catch. 



The seasons for tagging were chosen to minimize loss of tag- 

 ged fish to fishing before they had moved from release areas. 

 Thus, the 1961 offshore tagging was done in early April, which 



'Northeast Fisheries Center Woods Hole Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries 

 Service, NOAA, Woods Hole, MA 02543. 



! Sissenwine, M. P., R. R. Lewis, and R. K. Mayo. 1979. The spatial and 

 seasonal distribution of summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) based on research 

 vessel bottom trawl surveys. Northeast Fisheries Center, National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, Mass. Lab. Ref. No. 79-55, 9 p. 



'Murawski, W. 1970. Results of tagging experiments of summer flounder, 

 Paralichthys dentatus, conducted in New Jersey waters from 1960-67. N.J. Dep. 

 Environ. Prot., Misc. Rep. 5M, 45 p. (N.J. Division of Fish, Game and 

 Shellfisheries, Box 1809, Trenton, N.J. 08625.) 



