MIGRATIONS OF COD 
5 
fish — the 2-year olds — are taken annually.” (Ibid., p. 79.) The 2 and the 3 year 
old fish were virtually stationary, often being recaptured in the same place after 
more than 21 months, and a few were even taken later. The older fish were more 
migratory, although some of these, too, were stationary. None of the cod left the 
Faroes, and only a few moved as far as 60 miles. “ * * * it would seem that the 
bank (Faroe Bank) has its own stock of cod, * * * the stock, moreover, being 
capable of itself replenishing the loss occasioned by a fishery of considerable inten- 
sity.” (Ibid., p. 84.) 
Around Iceland cod tagging was done in 1904-5 (Schmidt, 1907) and in 1908-9 
(Saemundsson, 1913). During the earlier experiment, in 1904-5, the tagging 
occurred on the north and east coasts where a total of 491 cod was marked. Most of 
them were 40 to 60 centimeters (16 to 24 inches) long and, according to Schmidt 
(1907, p. 13), were not adult fish. Out of one lot of 297 cod tagged off the east coast 
in 1904, in a locality where a relatively large amount of fishing was done, 26, or 8.7 
per cent, were subsequently recaptured, while of 194 tagged about the same time but 
in a locality where very little commercial fishing was done only 3, or 1.6 per cent, were 
retaken. Schmidt (1907, p. 15) concludes, and no doubt correctly, that the greater 
amount of fish in g which obtained in the one locality was responsible for the greater 
return of tags. This also points to the localization of the fish, for 20 were taken the 
same season, 8 the next, and 1 later, and none migrated farther than a few miles. 
Even the 8 recaptures made the second season were taken near the tagging grounds, 
where they spent the winter and spring in water around 0° C., although they could 
have gone to the south coast where it was wanner. (Ibid., p. 17.) 
Cod marking the summer of 1905 was done on the north coast of Iceland. Of the 
391 fish tagged, most of which were immature, 2 were recaptured in August and Sep- 
tember, 1905, and 6 from May to October, 1906, all of them on the north and north- 
west coasts. (Ibid., p. 19.) Subsequently 7 more of these fish were reported 
(Saemundsson, 1913, p. 8); 5 on the north and west coasts and 2 on the west and 
southwest coasts. These last two recaptures taken the summer of 1907 are of par- 
ticular importance, for the fish had reached maturity in the two years since tagging 
and had migrated toward the spawning grounds off southern Iceland. Another lot of 
26 cod was tagged on the east coast during the summer of 1905, and of these 2 were 
recaptured near by the same summer. Cod tagging was continued during the 
summers of 1908 and 1909, when 27 and 200 immature fish, respectively, were marked. 
The few fish of 1908 were tagged on the north coast and the one recapture, made 13 
months later, was from near the tagging locality. During the summer of 1909 
tagging was done for the first time on the southwest coast. Twenty -one of the fish 
were recaught within 3 months, and 9 of them within 10 to 14 months. All but 1 of 
the 25 specimens from which good locality records were obtained were taken in 
Faxa Bay near where they were tagged. 
As a result of the cod experiments made off Iceland since 1904, it has been found 
that the fry which are carried by currents from the spawning grounds on the south 
and west coasts to the north and east coasts stay there for three or four years, but 
seek the warmer water off the southern coast of Iceland when maturity approaches. 
(Saemundsson, 1913, p. 34.) Schmidt (1907, p. 23) believes that the reason these 
north and east coast Icelandic cod make a spawning migration to the south and west 
coasts is that they become more sensitive to the cold water as they near maturity. 
Saemundsson (1913, p. 34) states that Iceland has its own stock of cod because no 
recaptures of tagged fish were made outside of there. 
