Hampton: Estimates of tag-reporting and tag-shedding rates for tuna in the tropical Pacific Ocean 
79 
procedure for the estimation of mortality rates from 
the overall RTTP tagging data. The precision of the 
mortality rates estimated with such a procedure will 
then incorporate uncertainties in the estimates of 
tag-shedding and reporting rates and not be condi- 
tional on point estimates of these parameters. 
Acknowledgments 
The RTTP and associated experiments were sup- 
ported by a grant from the Commission of the Euro- 
pean Communities Sixth European Development 
Fund. Special thanks are due to Gordon Yamasaki 
and Craig Heberer, who coordinated the placement 
of observers, distributed tag-seeding equipment, and 
briefed observers on the requirements of the experi- 
ment. The manuscript was improved considerably by 
the comments of three anonymous reviewers. 
Literature cited 
Bagiim, R. E., Jr., M. I. Farber, W. H. Lemarz, and 
J. M. Mason Jr. 
1980. Shedding rates of plastic and metal dart tags from 
Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus ihynnus. Fish. Bull. 
78:179-185. 
Bavliff, W, H., and L. M. Mobrand. 
1972. Estimates of rates of shedding of dart tags from yel- 
lowfln tuna. Inter-Am. Trop. Tuna Comm. Bull. 15:465- 
503. 
Beverton, R. H. J., and S. J. Holt. 
1957. On the dynamics of exploited fish populations. Fish. 
Invest. Ser. II, Mar. Fish. G.B. Minist. Agric. Fish. Food 
19, 533 p. 
Campbell, R. P., T. J. Cody, C. E. Bryan, G. C. Matlock, 
M. F. Osborn, and A. W. Green. 
1992. An estimate of the tag-reporting rate of commercial 
shrimpers in two Texas bays. Fish. Bull. 90:621-624. 
Efron. B. 
1982. The Jackknife, the bootstrap and other resampling 
schemes. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathemat- 
ics, Philadelphia, 92 p. 
Green, A. W., G. C. Matlock, and J. E. Weaver. 
1983. A method for directly estimating the tag-reporting 
rate of anglers. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 112:412-415. 
Hampton, J., and G. P. Kirkwood. 
1990. Tag shedding by southern bluefin tuna Thunnus 
maccoyii. Fish. Bull. 88:313-321. 
Hilborn, R. 
1988. Determination of tag return from recaptured fish by 
sequential examination for tags. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 
117:510-514. 
Kendall, M. G., and A. Stuart. 
1961. The advanced theory of statistics. Vol. 2: Inference 
and relationship. Charles Griffin, London, 676 p. 
Kirkwood, G. P. 
1981 . Generalized models for the estimation of rates of tag- 
shedding by southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii ). J. 
Cons. Int. Explor. Mer 39:256-260. 
Kleiber, P., A. W. Argue, and R. E. Kearney. 
1987. Assessment of Pacific skipjack tuna ( Katsuwonus 
pelamis) resources by estimating standing stock and com- 
ponents of population turnover from tagging data. Can. 
J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 44:1122-1134. 
Lawson, T. (Ed.) 
1994. Tuna fishery yearbook 1993. South Pacific Commis- 
sion, Noumea, New Caledonia, 81 p. 
Lenarz, W. H., F. J. Mather III, J. S. Beckett, A. C. Jones, 
and J. M. Mason Jr. 
1973. Estimation of rates of tag shedding by northwest 
Atlantic bluefin tuna. Fish. Bull. 71:1103-1105. 
Mendenhall, W„ and R. L. Scheaffer. 
1973. Mathematical statistics with applications. Duxbury 
Press, North Scituate, MA, 561+88 p. 
Paulik, G. J. 
1961. Detection of incomplete reporting of tags. J. Fish. 
Res. Board Can. 18:817-832. 
Seber, G. A. F. 
1973. The estimation of animal abundance and related 
parameters. Charles Griffin, London, 654 p. 
Sokal, R. R., and F. J. Rohlf. 
1981. Biometry. W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, CA, 
859 p. 
Wetherall, J. A. 
1982. Analysis of double-tagging experiments. Fish. Bull. 
80:687-701. 
Youngs, W. D. 
1974. Estimation of the fraction of anglers returning 
tags. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 103:616-618. 
