Tag Return

[Billfish715]

I just received another tag return from the Littoral Society. I tagged it at the end of August last year in SH Channel. It was recaptured in Raritan Bay this July 2015. It was 14.5" when I tagged it. It was 17" when it was recaptured off Keasnsburg. These fish do grow and will be keepers next year if they are not trawled. If all of the 16" fish that are currently being released last through the winter, there will be one heck of a body of keepers next summer.

Can you imagine what the feds will say when that happens?! They'll probably end the season in July because we caught too many keepers.

Interestingly, most, if not all, of the tag returns I've had from fluke, all are recaptured in the same general area as where they were tagged, often after a year at large.

[makosnax]

It's sad that only 1 in 50 short fish make it back as a keeper, if you consider the keeper to short ratio. We all released a lot of 17" fish last year that would most certainly be keepers this year if they didn't wind up in a supermarket somewhere.

[Reelron]

Got a Tag return my self, 14.5" fish caught 06/28/14 in Raritan Bay, Caught again 7/11/15 @ 18.25 in the area of Earle Pier. This one was kept! Almost 4" growth in one year, not bad.

I really find it hard to believe that only 1 in 50 fish released make it back as a keeper. With the number of shorts I've seen returned I would have to think the bottom of the bay must be paved with dead fish? My Tag Return was the second from a Tagging trip I was on last year. I caught 4 fish that were tagged and two tags were returned. I would say 2 out of 4 is a better ratio and my stats are probably as reliable as any done by NMFS!

[NoLimit]

It would seem that there should be a technology to do a couple things:

1) greatly reduce the cost and work in tagging fluke to get all released fish tagged. This would give us absolute reliable info

2) determine exactly if 17" males do just die and never make it to a plate

[Reelron]

Originally Posted by NoLimit

It would seem that there should be a technology to do a couple things:

1) greatly reduce the cost and work in tagging fluke to get all released fish tagged. This would give us absolute reliable info

2) determine exactly if 17" males do just die and never make it to a plate

!) A. I would have to believe that if an attempt were made to have everyone tag all fluke released there would indeed be a higher mortality rate. As it would require the fish to be out of the water longer to be tagged by inexperienced taggers.
B. Someone has to pay for the tags and the salaries of the people that record the info from the tags. (Someone also has to pay for the little goldfish patch they send with the Recapture letter also)

2) A. Many of those 17" released fish, do, in fact, make it to the plate, via Commercial nets
B. Counting fish in the ocean is NEVER going to be exact!