The Atlantic menhaden resource is believed to consist of a single unit stock or population, based on tagging studies. Adult Atlantic menhaden undergo extensive seasonal migrations north and south along the United States East Coast. Early reports of this migratory behavior were made based on the decrease in the number of purse seine sets north of Cape Cod in September. Also, other studies observed the disappearance of fish in October north of Chesapeake Bay and their appearance off the coast of North Carolina in November. Others examined latitudinal differences in length-frequency distributions of individual age groups at different times of year and described a cyclic north-south movement with the largest and oldest fish proceeding farthest north such that the population stratifies itself by age and size along the coast during summer. A study of length frequencies at the time of first annulus formation on scales supported the concept of a north-south migratory movement and also indicated that a great deal of mixing of fish from all areas occurs off the North Carolina coast before fish move northward in spring.

Returns of tagged Atlantic menhaden have generally confirmed what was already concluded from earlier work and added some important details. Adults begin migrating inshore and north in early spring following the end of the major spawning season off the North Carolina coast during December-February. The oldest and largest fish migrate farthest, reaching the Gulf of Maine in May and June. Adults that remain in the south Atlantic region for the spring and summer migrate south later in the year, reaching northern Florida by fall. Fish begin migrating south from northern areas to the Carolinas in late fall. During November, most of the adult population that summered north of Chesapeake Bay moves south around Cape Hatteras.