Tagging and tracking fish has saved the lives of some fish and provided invaluable insights into the lives of others.
For example, after years of tagging paddlefish populations and doing population counts, fisheries biologists in eastern Montana are confident that the ratio of tagged to non-tagged paddlefish is about 37 to 127. Applying this knowledge, to annual fish population survey results help verify that the harvest, now set at 2,000 a year, is sustainable.
“A couple of years ago, we found, based on our tagging and tracking, that the paddlefish harvest limit was beginning to exceed the number of young fish coming into the population,” said Brad Schmitz. “As a result, we revised the harvest limit to 2,000 and once again, we have a sustainable population of about 28,000 adult paddlefish.”
In tagging sauger, Schmitz documented that one sauger traveled 180 river miles in about two months, demonstrating a high level of mobility and broad use of its habitat.
“We can see from tracking this one fish how important the connectivity is between rivers, lakes and reservoirs—for example the Yellowstone, Missouri and Lake Sacaqawea in North Dakota,” Schmitz said. “It helps us to see the big picture and makes it easier to explain to an irrigator or other water user why it is important to provide for fish passage in an irrigation system.”
A floy, or spaghetti tag, that looks like a plastic piece of spaghetti, is used to track general movement, harvest data, age and growth. Records of the fish are made when they are tagged.
Radio tagged fish have a radio transmiter inserted in their abdomen with a thin wire antennae protruding from the incision. The tags are battery operated and last from 6-24 months. The tag emits a signal that is tracked with a receiver in an airplane, vehicle or boat. Biologists radio tag fish to collect very specific migration and spawning data.
Fish tagged with floy or spaghetti tags are edible and the tags are easily detected during cleaning or food preparation.
Anglers who catch tagged fish from Montana waters are asked to please report the catch to FWP, providing:
tag number and color; date the fish was caught; species of the fish; length and weight of the fish; location of the catch, including the body of water and distance from the nearest landmark; if the fish was kept or released; and name and address of the angler.
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