Migration ecology of the herring Clupea pallasii after spawning in Miyako Bay and homing in the following year

Abstract

We tagged and released 500 set net caught herring Clupea pallasii which had just finished spawning in Miyako Bay (MB) in the winter of 2003 and 2004. A total of 114 tag recaptures, i.e. 22.8% recapture rate, were obtained during a period of 3 years 2 months after release. Based on recaptures it was found that fish left MB shortly after spawning and migrated northward in spring and inhabited Funka Bay (FB), 300 km north of MB in summer. In the spawning season of the year following tagging and releasing, 18 (from 2003 release group) and 14 (from 2004 release group) maturing fish were recaptured in MB. Through the tag recapture of these two release groups and the already known ecological information of artificial herring juveniles released in MB until first maturing, it was considered that the herring has migrated between MB and FB seasonally, and has spawned in MB every year. Our results suggest that herring reproducing along the coast of Honshu have similar ecological characteristics concerning migration and homing as herring released in MB.