Migratory Secrets

Tagged Tuna

Migratory Secrets Revealed

F)R several years now, US Fish & Wildlife Service scientists have been tagging tuna in the North Pacific, releasing them, and hoping that some day some of the tagged fish might be again caught and their migratory habits partly re vealed.

According to a recent press state ment from F & WS, the tagging project has started to yield results.

Last November 24, the first tagged tuna was recaptured by a Japanese fishing vessel north of Hawaii and 810 miles due west of a point 400 miles north-east of Midway, where it had been tagged ten months earlier. The Big Eye had grown by 10 lbs in the interim. The tag was returned by the skipper of Nikko Maru No. 5.

No. 2 fish, an albacore, was taken by another Japanese vessel 75 miles north-east of Tokio Bay on January 19, 471 days and 2,670 miles from point of release 1,300 miles north of the Hawaiian Is. That fish had weighed 20 lbs when tagged and over 40 lbs when recaptured.

Next tag to come in was delivered by the Honolulu sampan Neptune.

This aku had been at liberty for 252 days when hooked on February 1, but its point of recapture of Barber’s Point was only a few miles from where it had been tagged. Its weight had increased from 7 lb to 14 lb.

US Fish & Wildlife Service, PO

Box 3830, Honolulu, appeals to all: Pacific fishermen to return such tags with dimensions and weight of fish and details of where, when, and how the fish was taken. The tag resembles a piece of plastic spaghetti and is attached to the back muscles of the fish.