Table 1.— Recoveries of tagged summer flounder from 1961 offshore 

 releases by season and fisherman type, April 1961-Oclober 1963. 





Number of recoveries by fisherman type 



Period of 



Commer- 



Recrea- 







recovery 



cial 



tional 



Unknown 



Total 



1961 











April- June 



60 



7 



— 



67 



July-September 



13 



32 



2 



47 



October-December 



2 



— 



1 



3 



1962 











January-March 



28 



— 



— 



28 



April-June 



3 



1 



— 



4 



July-October 



2 



1 



— 



3 



1963 











May-August 



3 



— 



— 



3 



All months 



111 



41 



3 



155 



Percentage 



71.6 



26.5 



1.9 



100.0 



Following June 1962 only six additional tags were recovered 

 from the 1961 releases: One each in July, September, and Oc- 

 tober 1962; one in May 1963; and two in August 1963. The loca- 

 tions of these recoveries followed a pattern similar to that 

 described for the 1961 recoveries in these months. 



The tagged fish in the 1961 releases were caught by both com- 

 mercial and recreational fishermen, with commercial gear taking 

 71.6% of the recoveries versus 26.5"% for recreational (Table 1). 

 While we have no exact breakdown of catch by the various com- 

 mercial gears, the bulk of the recaptures were by otter trawls, 

 and a few additional recaptures on inshore areas were by traps 

 and seines. The recreational gear was primarily hook and line, 

 although a few tagged fish may have been taken with spears. 



Some recaptures by commercial gear were made year-round. 

 Most, however, were caught in January-June with many of 

 them being taken during the offshore fishery for this species in 

 January- April (Table 1). The recoveries by recreational 

 fishermen all were obtained during the summer months, when 

 the fish are inshore. Most of these latter returns were caught in 

 Long Island waters, although several also were taken off 

 southern New England. 



The length, at tagging, of the tagged fish returned by the com- 

 mercial fleet ranged from 32 to 56 cm (mean = 39.3 cm). The 

 fish returned by recreational fishermen, on the other hand, had 

 a length range, at tagging, of 31-42 cm (mean = 37.5 cm). Thus, 

 it appeared that fish of the recreational catch were slightly 

 smaller in size and that considerably fewer large summer 

 flounder were caught by anglers. 



The sex of 58 of the fish released in 1961 was obtained when 

 they were recaught and returned for measurements. The length 

 frequencies, by sex, of these fish (at time of tagging) are 

 presented in Figure 6. While the numbers of fish here, 22 males 

 and 36 females, are small, there are indications of modes at 

 about 35 cm for males and 40 cm for females. 



Inshore Tagging, September 1962 



The 1962 inshore tagging comprised two experiments: One in 

 Block Island Sound and one in Nantucket Sound. The summer 

 flounder tagged in Block Island Sound were caught and released 

 in an area about 6 km south-southwest of Point Judith, R.I., 

 lighthouse (approximately lat. 41°18'N, long. 71°32'W) in 

 18-27 m of water 6-8 September (Fig. 1). Tag recoveries from 

 this group were obtained through March 1967. A total of 406 

 fish were tagged, and 203 of these were subsequently recaptured 

 for a return rate of 50%. 



1961 OFFSHORE GROUNDS 



1962 BLOCK ISLAND SOUND 



40 45 50 55 



TOTAL LENGTH (CM) 



Figure 6. — Length-frequency distributions, at tagging, of male 



( ) and female (- ) summer flounder recaptures from fish tagged 



in 1961 on offshore grounds and in 1962 on inshore grounds. 



The length distributions at time of tagging of the summer 

 flounder released at this location and of those later recaught (Fig. 

 7) range from 31 to 76 cm (mean = 46.3 cm). The lengths at tag- 

 ging of the recovered fish (range = 31-76 cm, mean = 46.4 cm) 

 were similar to those of the tagged ones, indicating that the 

 recoveries accurately represented the tagged population (Fig. 7). 



The summer flounder tagged in Nantucket Sound were re- 

 leased in two areas off southeastern Cape Cod about 12-13 km 

 apart: 397 fish were released 10 km south of Point Gammon 

 (approximately lat. 41 °33 'N, long. 70°15 'W) in 16-20 m depths 

 6-7 September, and 203 fish were released 6.5 km south- 

 southwest of Monomoy Point (approximately lat. 41°32'N, 

 long. 70°05 'W) in 7-10 m depths 21 September. These areas are 

 close together and are shown as a single position, number 6, in 

 Figure 1. Through January 1968, when the last tag return was 

 reported, 245 of the 600 fish tagged in these releases were 

 recaught, a recapture rate of 40.8%. 



The size distributions, at time of tagging, of all the Nantucket 

 Sound releases and of those later recaptured (Fig. 8) show that 

 the length range of the fish tagged here was narrow (range = 

 35-53 cm, mean = 43.1 cm). The lengths, at tagging, of the fish 

 recaptured from these releases were similar (range = 35-52 cm, 

 mean = 43.5 cm). 



The patterns of tag returns for the Block Island and Nan- 

 tucket Sound releases were very similar; therefore, we have com- 

 bined these two groups in discussing fish movements. Charts of 

 the tag return positions for these groups for September 1962 

 through December 1964, by calendar quarter, are presented in 

 Figures 9-13. 



During September 1962 (the month of tagging) 36 tag returns, 

 all with return positions, were recorded. These were caught in 

 the immediate vicinity of the release points (Fig. 9). In October- 

 December 1962 the 25 returns recorded, all with return posi- 

 tions, showed clear evidence of fish movement to offshore 

 wintering areas (Fig. 9), with a few tagged fish being recovered 

 in October near the tagging sites and also on grounds in- 

 termediate between inshore and offshore areas. Two fish were 

 recaught in October on intermediate grounds off the New Jersey 

 coast, a straight line movement from the release point of about 

 335 km in just over 1 mo. In November 1962 only two tag 



