Seasonal Movements of Juvenile and Adult Herring (Clupea harengus L.) Tagged Along the Maine and New Hampshire Coasts in 1976-82

Edwin P. Creaser and David A. Libby

Maine Department of Marine Resources
Fisheries Research Laboratory
West Boothbay Harbor, Maine, USA 04575

Source - Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science, Volume 8: 33-42
ISSN-0250-6408

 

Creaser, E.P. and Libby, D.A. 1989. Seasonal Movements of Juvenile and Adult Herring (Clupea harengus L.) Tagged Along the Maine and New Hampshire Coasts in 1976-82. J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci. 8: 33-42. https://doi.org/10.2960/J.v8.a4

 

Abstract

Between 1976 and 1982, 164,128 juvenile and adult herring were tagged and released at 72 sites along the Maine and New Hampshire coasts. Total recovery rates were 5.9% for juveniles and 4.9% for adults. Effective recovery rates (i.e. from the 15th day after release) were 4.1 and 3.5% respectively. Migration patterns varied with season and region of tagging. Summer-feeding juveniles from all areas along the coast frequently moved into adjacent areas during the 3rd and the 4th calendar quarters. Some of these juveniles then underwent an autumn migration to the southwest where they overwintered off the Massachusetts and New Hampshire coasts. Others overwintered off southwestern and northeastern Maine. There was a tendency for tagged fish to be recaptured east of the tagging site during the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the following year. Tagging studies on summer-feeding adults showed migration patterns similar to juveniles. There was a small but consistent tendency for some adult fish tagged in eastern Maine to be recovered in the Southwest Nova Scotian fishery. There was no evidence of changes in seasonal migration patterns of either juveniles or adults during the study period. Tagging studies on overwintering juveniles tagged in northeastern Maine showed that most recoveries during the following year were from the tagging area. Tagging studies on spawning herring tagged off New Hampshire and northeastern Maine showed that these fish overwinter off Massachusetts. Recoveries during the 3rd and 4th calendar quarters of the following year were in close proximity to the tagging area.

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Language - English
Publisher - Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), Dartmouth, N.S., Canada
Publication Date - December 1988
Publication Type - Journal Article

Citation: Creaser, E.P. and Libby, D.A. 1989. Seasonal Movements of Juvenile and Adult Herring (Clupea harengus L.) Tagged Along the Maine and New Hampshire Coasts in 1976-82. J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci. 8: 33-42. https://doi.org/10.2960/J.v8.a4