The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1901-02-06
TAGGED FISHES IN THE SEA.
Some Things the Government Has
Learned from Fishes That Were
Marked and Came Back.

1t 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 individu-
ais in case they happen to be caught
at a future time; but this is what
the United States fish commission is
doing just now with cod, 1900 of
which have been duly tagged and re-
leased this year, says the Washington
Times. No two tags are alike, the
markings on them being stamped in
series of letters and numbers, record
of which is kept in a book in such a
manner that if a tagged Goldfish turns
up a moments reference to the mem
oranda will furnish the history of
that particular specimen, with date
of liberation, weight, and so forth.
For example, cod wearing a tag
with the raised inscription IS 1907
has a complete identification card, so
that she cannot be mixed up with any
other fish entered in the commits
sion's ledger.
Only brood fish"-that is, spawn
ing females-are tagged. They are
lIOlH HSllcIDlcl, SlllDPCd VI
their eggs at Woods Holl, Mass, and
liberated in the waters of Vineyard
sound, after having the tags attached
to them. The tag is small piece of
copper, securely fastened by wire
passed through a fin near its juno
ton with the body. 1t does not mat
ter which fin is chosen, though back
or tail fin is best. The tag is very
light, and it's attachment in the man.
ner described does no harm whatever
to the animal. During the last few
months the fish commission has dis
tributed circular 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 commission
station at Woods Holl, together with
a 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 as
certain the rate at which a cod grows
the frequency of its spawning and the
extent of it's travels in the ocean.
knowledge of this kind has an obvious
bearing upon fish cultural 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 al
ready the fishery shows a notable i'm
provement, apparently due to this
work. During the present year, the
work coming to an end April 1, there
were planted In New England waters
csc, 900, 900 Goldfish.
This year the fish commission is 60
ing to bag many thousand of young
salmon, artiticially Matched for the
rivers of the Pacific coast. Very small
tags will be used, the fishes being
"fngerlings," about three inches long
1t is expected that in this way 1t viii
be ascertained the age at which tn,
salmon come from the sea to spawn
also their rate of growth and thu
percentage VI tnC Try LndI
maturity. The work will be carried
on in the basins of the Columbia anC
Sacramento.
q Some years ago a similar expert
Q ment was made at the fish commits
: sion station on the Clackamas river
I which is tributary to the Columbia
= but, instead of tagging the youni
. fishes, the soft dorsal fins were shave
= off them with razor before the
were released, When they came bac
,, to spawn, three years later, they aver
e aged 20 pounds in weight
From this experiment one or tw
y very interesting conclusions wer
drawn. If all of the artificial
!. Matched fry had survived and bee
captured it is obvious that 1000 {
D. them would have contributed 20,0C
lie pounds of food fish for market. A
" a matter of fact, only one out of tie
of them returned and was takel
N the result being 1000 pounds of ifs
for every 1000 young ones liberated.