We quantified the site utilization of offshore gravel habitat by Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) using acoustic telemetry. An omni-directional receiver was deployed inside Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary during Summer 2001 in an area that excluded commercial fishing for demersal fishes. Fish were collected using hook and line, tagged externally with coded acoustic pingers, and released on the seafloor using an “elevator” within the range of the receiver. Observations were made over 120 days. The total number of days that individual fish were recorded was up to 120 days and a total of 37% of all tagged fish showed high site fidelity to the study area.
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Lindholm et al. (2003) studied this question.