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Fishery Bulletin 113(2) 
Table 1 
Tagging characteristics and patterns of intra-estuarine residency for individually tagged weakfish ( Cynoscion regalis ) 
within the Mullica River-Great Bay estuary in 2008 (20 of 29 fish successfully tagged). Areas of localized residency (ALR) 
were established by 12 of 29 individuals (ALR defined as 3 or more consecutive weekly detections within 500 m of each 
other). No data (-) indicates fish without sufficient redetections (<3) to analyze patterns of movement (1 of 29 total fish 
tagged) or that did not establish an ALR, on the basis of previously described criteria (8 of 29 total fish tagged). Poten- 
tial relocation events are calculated as the number of weekly tracking events in which fish were resident in the study 
area. An asterisk (*) indicates established ALR is the same as original tagging location. LSHCW=western side of Little 
Sheepshead Creek; LSHCE=eastern side of Little Sheepshead Creek; SWGB=southwestern Great Bay (for locations, see 
Fig. 1); NEGB=northeastern Great Bay; MMT=Main Marsh Thorofare. 
Proportion 
First Last of potential 
Fish 
ID 
Length 
(mm TL) 
Date 
tagged 
Tagging 
location 
Total 
number of 
detections 
Area of 
localized 
residency 
detection 
within 
ALR 
detection 
within 
ALR 
Size of 
ARL 
(km 2 ) 
No. of 
detections 
in ALR 
detections 
within 
ALR (%) 
38 
298 
Aug 22 
LSHCW 
! 
_ 
_ 
_ 
_ 
_ 
_ 
50 
305 
Aug 15 
LSHCW 
5 
* 
Sep 18 
Oct 15 
0.019 
5 
56 
62 
406 
Jul 1 
Deep Point 
7 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
64 
337 
Jul 10 
Deep Point 
8 
* 
July 17 
Oct 16 
0.123 
6 
35 
70 
406 
Jul 10 
Deep Point 
3 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
74 
356 
Aug 17 
Grassy Channel 
3 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
75 
279 
Aug 15 
LSHCW 
6 
* 
Aug 22 
Sep 23 
0.004 
5 
56 
102 
591 
Jul 1 
Deep Point 
11 
SWGB 
Aug 22 
Oct 15 
0.104 
6 
35 
103 
521 
Jun 21 
Deep Point 
3 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
136 
540 
Jul 10 
Deep Point 
7 
* 
Jul 17 
Aug 12 
0.029 
5 
50 
137 
489 
Jul 1 
Deep Point 
13 
* 
Jul 2 
Jul 23 
0.028 
4 
24 
138 
432 
Aug 12 
LSHCW 
8 
NEGB 
Sep 3 
Oct 8 
0.009 
4 
40 
139 
470 
Aug 15 
Big Creek 
10 
* 
Aug 27 
Oct 15 
0.007 
5 
50 
140 
432 
Aug 17 
Grassy Channel 
4 
MMT 
Aug 27 
Sep 18 
0.034 
4 
80 
142 
445 
Aug 27 
LSHCE 
4 
* 
Sep 12 
Sep 23 
0.001 
3 
75 
151 
502 
Jun 21 
Deep Point 
7 
* 
Jul 2 
Aug 5 
0.036 
6 
46 
155 
432 
Jun 12 
Big Creek 
4 
* 
Jun 17 
Jul 16 
0.003 
4 
67 
162 
438 
Jun 19 
Deep Point 
7 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
163 
406 
Sep 11 
Marshelder 
4 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
204 
457 
Jun 25 
Deep Point 
1 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
of the crepuscular and nighttime periods on weakfish 
movements, tracking occurred during and after sun- 
down (1930 hours, 5 tracking events). 
Data analysis 
Seasonal movements The sampling unit ( n ) was defined 
as an individual tagged fish (Rogers and White, 2007) 
to avoid pseudoreplication. Redetections of individual 
weakfish during seasonal active tracking in 2008 were 
first plotted with geographic information systems (GIS) 
software (ArcMap 9.3, Esri, Redlands, CA). Quantifying 
the breadth of movements in animals has traditionally 
been accomplished by calculating home ranges, but the 
lack of consecutive detections in tagged weakfish dur- 
ing this study precluded formal home range analyses 
(Rogers and White, 2007). Kernel density estimators, 
another technique used for home range calculation 
in previous studies (e.g., McGrath and Austin, 2009), 
would have produced bias in estimates because of low 
sample size (Seaman et al., 1999) and nonconsecutive 
detections. Variations of these analyses were conducted 
but proved inadequate. For example, movement rates 
could not be assessed on a daily scale (kilometers per 
day) because sampling occurred weekly and weekly 
rates of movement were largely uninformative at such 
a large timescale and were confounded by weeks dur- 
ing which fish were not redetected. Movements were 
analyzed in relation to environmental factors, such as 
salinity and temperatures, but these findings were also 
misleading because environmental conditions in an 
estuarine system are highly dynamic (changing with 
each tidal cycle). 
To characterize seasonal weakfish movements, crite- 
ria based on the spatial and temporal extent of weekly 
redetections were established. If 3 consecutive detec- 
tions of tagged weakfish were within 500 m of each oth- 
er, the fish were characterized as having established an 
area of localized residency (ALR; see Table 1). Only fish 
with 3 or more weekly detections were used in analy- 
