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Figure 6 
Spatial distribution and abundance of recaptures of small (<46 cm total 
length [TL] ) striped bass ( Morone saxatilis ) tagged during the Ameri- 
can Littoral Society tagging program (A) near potential source (natal) 
populations in the Hudson River estuary (including New York Harbor, 
Jamaica Bay, and western Long Island Sound) and the Delaware Bay and 
recaptured along the ocean coast of New Jersey, and (B) near potential 
non-natal sources along the ocean coast of New Jersey and recaptured 
along the Atlantic coastline. Circled recaptures shown in (B) represent 
fish recaptured at less than 40 cm TL. 
al., 2007), as well as by data (Fig. 2) and many studies 
in the Hudson River (Hurst and Conover, 1998; Hurst 
et al., 2000; Dunning et al., 2009; Fig. 2) and Chesa- 
peake Bay (Mansueti, 1961). Further, the tag-recapture 
data for small striped bass reported along the coast of 
New Jersey support the interpretation of movement 
from the Hudson River and Delaware Bay. Although 
there are movements of some ultrasonically tagged 
adults up to the freshwater-saltwater interface, as if 
for spawning, in the Mullica River-Great Bay estuary 
(Able and Grothues, 2007; Grothues et al. 2009), very 
few small individuals less than 20 cm (n=21) have been 
collected there despite intensive sampling over two 
decades (Table 1). 
It is difficult to evaluate whether the sources of 
small striped bass have changed since the recovery 
in the 1980s (Wooley et al., 1990; Richards and Rago, 
1999). Clearly the major estuaries that support natal 
populations appear to be the same, i.e., Chesapeake 
Bay and its tributaries and the Hudson River. It is 
