Atlantic Salmon Tagged in East Coast Newfoundland Waters at Bonavista

Abstract

In 1940, from June 8 to June 28, 68 salmon and 386 grilse were tagged at Bonavista on the east coast of Newfoundland. The fish used were caught by commercial fishermen in salmon traps set along the coast within 3¼ miles of the lighthouse at Bonavista.The proportion of tagged salmon recaptured during the year of tagging was 41.2%, and 1.5% in the following year. The 28 tagged salmon recaptured in 1940 were distributed as follows: Newfoundland 57.1%, mainland of Canada 39.3%, and Labrador 3.6%. The greatest distance travelled was 785 miles, and the fastest apparent rate of travel was 26.2 miles per day.The tagged grilse returns were 36.3% in 1940 (year of tagging), 2.6% in 1941, and 0.3% in 1942. The 140 tagged grilse recaptured in 1940 were distributed as follows: Newfoundland 92.9%, and mainland 7.1%. The greatest distance travelled by recaptured grilse was 792 miles, and the fastest apparent rate of travel was 32.5 miles per day, both exceeding the highest values for salmon. The average interval between tagging and recapture (during the same year) for the grilse taken commercially on the east coast of Newfoundland was 14.3 days, on the south coast 20.2 days, and on the mainland 28.8 days.