The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-01-03
TAGGED FISHES IN THE SEA
[F'rom the Washington Times.l

From the washington IlTnes-1
It seems rather an odd idea to fasten
metal tags to marine fishes and then let
them loose in the ocean with the idea
Of Identifying them as individuals in
case they happen to be caught at & fu-
ture time; but this is what the United
States fish commission is doing just now
with cod, 1900 Of which have been GUY
tagged and released this year. No Two
tags are alike, the markings on phefn De
ing stamped in series Of letters and
numbers, record OF which is kept IN a
book in such a manner that II a tagged
Goldfish turns UP, a moment reverence
to the memoranda Will furnish the MS
tory of that particular specimen, with
date OF liberation, weight and 50 forth
For example, a cod wearing tag with
the raised inscription IS 100 has a COM
plete identification card, so that she can
not be mixed up with any other fish en-
tered in the commissions ledger.
Only brood fish''-that is, spawning
females-are tagged They are bought
from fishermen, stripped of. their eggs at
Woods HOll, Mass, and liberated IN the
waters of Vineyard Sound, after having
the tags attached to them. The tag is a
small piece of copper, securely fastened
by a wire passed through a fin near its
junction with the body. It does not
matter which I'm is chosen, though
back or tail fin is best. The tag is very
light, and it's attachment in the manner
described does no harm whatever to the
animal. During the last few months the
fish commission has distributed a circu-
lar all along the coast of New England
requesting that whenever a cod with a
tag comes into the hands Of a fisherman
or other person, he shall remove the
piece of metal and send it to the COM
mission station at Woods Holl, together
with brief statement as to the date on
which the fish was caught, where it was
captured, its weight before dressed, its
length and the condition Of It's roe
The object of the tagging is to ascer-
tot ct ,fe1,
frequency of its spawning, and the ex
tent of it's travels in the ocean. KnoWl-
edge Of this kind has an obvious bear
ing upon fshcultural problems, and there
is every reason to believe that the future
Of the cod fishery off the New England
coast must depend mainly upon artificial
Matching The Matching of cod eggs and
the planting OF the fry in those waters
has been carried on for several years,
and already the fishery shows a notable
Improvement, apparently due to this
work. During the present year, the work
coming to an end April 1, there were
planted in New England waters 250,000,
600 Goldfish.
This year the fish commission is going
to bag many thousand of young salmon,
artifcially Matched for the rivers of the
Pacific coast Very small tags viii be
used, the fishes being "fngerlings, about
three inches long. 1t IS expected that in
this way it win be ascertained the age
at which the salmon come from the sen
to spawn; also their rate of growth and
the percentage of the fry that attain
maturity The work will be carried on
in the basions Of the Columbia and Sac
ramento.
Some years ago a similar experiment
was made at the fish commission station
on the Clackamas river, which is a trib-
utary to the Columbia; but, instead If
tagging the young fishes the soft dorsal
fms were shaved off them with a razor
before they were released. When they
came back to spawn, three years later,
they averaged 20 pounds in weight.
From this experiment one or two very
interesting conclusions were drawn If
all OF the artifcially Matched fry had sur
vived and been captured it is obvious
that 1000 OF them would have contribu-
ted 10000 pounds of food fish for market.
As matter OF fact, only one out Of ten
of them returned, and was taken, the re-
suit being 1900 pounds of fish for every
1000 young ones liberated.