 Giant vs. Giant - Tagging With the Stars
Tagging Canadian giants is a highlight of our year. There are many remaining questions about the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) fishery, and the challenges are numerous. The fishermen we work with our top-notch, and the autumn splendor of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia is unrivalled. The tuna of course are the main attraction - super giants!
This year had an added bonus - Los Angeles Lakers star Chris Mihm fished with us, and even tagged his first bluefin tuna under the expert guidance of TAG scientist Dr. Steven Wilson (photo). Even at 7 ft. tall Chris was nearly dwarfed by the fish he reeled in, tagged and released.
In total, 10 Atlantic bluefin tuna were tagged and released in October, ranging in size from 84 to 115 inches (~380-1,000 pounds). All were fitted with satellite tags programmed to pop off the fish next summer. The objective of the research is to learn more about where bluefin in Canada spawn and their migratory paths between the feeding and breeding areas. This year, 9 of the fish were also fitted with acoustic tags that provide an acoustic ID, sort of like the microchip in your pet, that announces the presence of the tuna when a receiver is nearby. These listening posts are currently scattered in Canadian (OTN receivers) and US waters but hopefully we can monitor the comings and goings of the tunas for years. The GSL is one of the few areas that has not seen a significant decline in bluefin catch rates so it is critical to learn more about these fish's population identity and migratory patterns.
Visit our blog for more Canada highlights.
Tagging in Japan
The Tag-A-Giant team had another first this fall. We finally tagged our first Pacific bluefin in the Western Pacific Ocean. This work was in collaboration with Tokyo Ocean Research Institute assistant professor and former Stanford post-doctoral fellow Dr. Takashi Kitigawa. We archival tagged 11 juvenile (year one) bluefin off the coast of Japan in October. These were the smallest bluefin we've ever tagged (only ~16 inches long - cute little guys!).
Chuck Farwell of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Jake Nogueira of the Tuna Research and Conservation Center led the trip for TAG. A Japanese fishing vessel served as the tagging platform, and the fish came over the rails quickly with the use of lift poles, a very traditional Japanese fishing technique. We learned a great deal about working aboard a Japanese fishing vessel and were happy to deploy some tags despite the fact that a major tsunami had just rolled through the area and turned the fishing off.
We hope to get a few of these tags back so we can learn about the travels and behavior of Pacific bluefin during their first year of life. Maybe we'll catch one during our annual trip aboard the F/V Shogun next year off the west coast of North America!
Data Highlight: Even with a GPS, this bluefin would have been hard-pressed to make a straighter shot across the Pacific. In March, a Japanese fisherman in the Korea Strait hooked a 290-lb Pacific bluefin tuna that had been archival tagged in August 2005 off San Diego. Its trans-oceanic journey took just 2.5 months plus a couple month-long rest-stops (first just north of the Northwestern Hawaiian Ridge and then ~500 miles east of Japan). |
|
|
Tags Out
|
Data In
|
|
Atlantic
|
1036
|
514
|
|
Pacific
|
641
|
332
|
|
|
|
