Conventional tags are the most basic modern tag type. They are small devices designed to physically attach in a way that is visible outside of the fish. The visible portion is marked with a tag number and project details including a call-in number for recaptures. These tags were first used in American waters in 1873 and have been adapted to suit all shapes, sizes and species of fish. Thanks to the low cost per tag and simplicity of application, conventional tags were incorporated into citizen scientist tagging programs in 1954 focusing on offshore species.
In the 1970s, LDWF began tagging work in Louisiana waters using short-term studies. The projects focused on migration and movement patterns in both the Biloxi Marsh and Calcasieu Lake areas of the state. Additionally, a tag retention study was also undertaken on speckled trout held in ponds at the LDWF Fisheries Laboratory on Grand Terre.
Mark-recapture data is tremendously useful, but in habitats as vast and diverse as Louisiana’s marshes, extremely large numbers of fish need to be tagged to ensure moderate rates of recapture. This requires effort, which is expensive for agencies operating on limited budgets. Cooperative tagging programs are a great way to obtain the kind of data that is vital for educated management decisions by fishery biologists.
Louisiana Cooperative Marine Fish Tagging Program
The Louisiana Cooperative Marine Fish Tagging Program began in the mid-1980s and has developed into a collaborative effort utilizing the strength of teamwork amongst recreational anglers, conservation groups and fishery biologists. The backbone of the program is a dedicated base of volunteer anglers serving as citizen scientists by tagging fish and providing data that would otherwise be too expensive to collect. Participants in the program become involved in the scientific process, thereby allowing exponentially more data to be gathered to help answer some of our questions about fish populations and movement patterns.
The framework for the current program was based on early tagging work pioneered by Maumus “TiMau” Claverie of the Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana. Deeply involved in marine fishery conservation issues since the 1960s, Claverie was an early advocate for tag and release fishing for offshore game fish species. In 1987, he spearheaded the creation of CCA Louisiana’s fish tagging program, which focused on the two most popular marine recreational sport fish species, redfish and speckled trout. This involved developing and coordinating logistics for correspondence with anglers, collection and compilation of the data, furnishing tagging supplies and of course recruiting new taggers to the program.
In 2004, a partnership was developed between CCA, LDWF, LSU and other non-profit fishery organizations to coordinate a complimentary tagging study in Barataria Estuary. This collaborative work was followed by a 2007 tagging study on speckled trout in Calcasieu Lake that combined conventional tagging with a more advanced type of acoustic tag that allowed for better and more detailed understanding of movement patterns of fish in that area.
These separate tagging studies were integrated into one overarching tagging program in 2010. The program’s goal is to build on the foundation and networks established by CCA, while developing and utilizing the most advanced research capabilities in order to provide accurate data for both LDWF biologists and recreational anglers.
When a fish is tagged, the citizen scientist completes a data card by providing information about the capture location, fish length, date and time, as well as the condition of the fish at release. All of this information provides a long term and widespread network of background data that can be used to determine daily, seasonal, and annual trends and patterns.
In an effort to increase the awareness of the program to all anglers and recruit more citizen scientists to the ranks, the program is jointly promoted by CCA through fishing seminars, chapter meetings, tag and release tournaments and other activities. Additionally, the Department hosts the Louisiana Saltwater Series, Family Fish Fest, and a host of other fishing workshops, seminars and outreach events.
The program rewards participants, both taggers and anglers who report recaptures, with various incentives including recapture reports. A tagging website has also been developed to serve as an online interface and database, as well as a smartphone app that allows anglers to enter their data on the water.
The amount of data generated from conventionally tagged fish is directly related to the number of active taggers. In the last year of the program we have seen a tremendous spike in participation, with over 700 active taggers and 50 elite taggers making the “Century Club” by tagging at least 100 fish over the course of a year. There were over 25,000 fish tagged last year alone, bringing the total number of fish tagged through the program to over 225,000 and the number grows daily. Additionally, the program has had over 9,000 reported recaptures of tagged fish.
Redfish and speckled trout are the major focus of the program, but we have recently added red snapper and yellowfin tuna to our target species. The program was initially designed to focus on redfish, so it makes sense that they currently hold the lead for the fish most tagged and recaptured. However, speckled trout is not that far behind and has been catching up in recent years. Red snapper holds third place in total numbers, with fish primarily being tagged in offshore waters off of the southeast and southwest corners of the state. Yellowfin tuna have few fish getting tagged annually, but they interestingly often have higher rate of recaptures than some of the other species.
We are also continually working on improving the quality of data generated through the tagging programs. These efforts include tank and field studies comparing the effectiveness of different tag types, and employing advanced technology in the form of acoustic and electronic tags.
