The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-06-28
RESULTS SECURED
BY TAGGING GOLDFISH
Reports To Fish Commission of Fish Re-
captured With Copper
Labels.

We're the rate of growth of the cod,
the frequency of its spawning, the ex-
tent TO which the individual fish mi
crate, the rate of movement, etc.
! Owing to the comparatively short
| time elapsing between the release and
the capture of the tagged fish but little
opportunity was afforded for obtaining
/ data of much value on the rate of
| growth of the species. The records
| show great irregularity in the changes
in weight, some fish increasing inordi-
| nateiy, some but little, and some not
at all. The tagged fish recaptured were
at liberty from two days to fifteen
months, the average time being four or
five months. Among the most striking
cases of increase in weight was that of
the fish longest at liberty. 1t was
spent male, whose weight when releas-
ed was four pounds, and when captur-
ed fifteen months later was seven
pounds eight ounces. Another note
worthy increase was that of an i'm
mature male weighing three pounds,
eight ounces when released and seven
pounds when caught after sixty-four
days. In a few cases the fish either re-
manned stationary or lost in weight,
several losing as much as one pound in
weight.
The range of the tagged cod, as judg-
ed by those caught, is from Georges
Bank to Atlantic City, n. j. The To-
calities mostly frequented We're the
south shore of Long Island, Narragan-
sett Bay and the adjacent shores and
Nantucket Shoals. Shortly or imme-
diately after their release there was
we'll marked southerly and westerly
movement to the shores of New York
and New-Jersey, where they remained
during the first four months of the
year. A feature of the fishing season
of 1900'81 was the taking of tagged fish
further south than in any of the other
years, in the vicinity of Atlantic City,
which is about the southern limit of
the cod fishery. The fish showed but
slight tendency to go TO the eastward
OF Cape Cod or of Nantucket Shoals
None of the tagged fish were taken
north of Cape Cod. One of the most in
teresting conclusions is that the cod
which resort to the shores of New-York
and New-Jersey in winter do not repre-
sent an independent body of fish which
have come from some offshore grounds
at this season, but are a part of the
great schools of shore cod which also
frequent the Southern NeW-England
coast.
A peculiar feature is that while of
some lots a comparatively large per-
centage were caught, of other lots none
were recaptured.
The observations on the rate of travel
are obviously unsatisfactory and I'M
trustworthy, owing to the impossibility
of determining the route of the fish.
Only a few cod were recaptured in
the season following their release, and
only one was taken more than a year
after liberation. The failure to obtain
information regarding the whereabouts !
of the tagged fish after the first season
is one of the most interesting develop
ments of the experiment. It is probable |
that most of the tin tags were COM |
pletely eroded after the first year, but |
this is not the case with the copper |
tags. 1t is clearly evident that the ex-
PLANTATION of the point under considera- |
ton lies not in the tags, but with the |
fish themselves, although what the real |
explanation is can only be surnised.
While most of the tagged fish were
taken on lines, a number were caught
in fixed appliances. Perhaps a dozen
were secured in trap or pound nets in |
Rhode Island and Massa-
chusetts, and one was caught in a lob
ster pot in Connecticut.-N. Y. Tribune.