Testing the effectiveness of an inexpensive batch tagging method on Surf Smelt in Puget Sound
Presentation Abstract
Surf Smelt (Hypomesus pretiosus) are an important forage fish in the Salish Sea food web, and obligate beach spawners. Due to their small body size, high abundance, high mortality and extensive mobility, forage fish are not commonly considered good candidates for tagging studies. Despite these apparent drawbacks, we conducted a pilot study to determine whether low-cost batch tagging methods could be used to help answer questions about local movements and distribution of Surf Smelt in Puget Sound. Using a beach seine, two known spawning beaches in Eld Inlet, located in south Puget Sound, were sampled for smelt nearly once a month for a year beginning in December 2014. Smelt were tagged using a Visible Implant Elastomer (VIE) tag (Northwest Marine Technology), and released. Fish were tagged with various combinations of tag placement and colors denoting the date and location that the fish were originally encountered. Over eight thousand smelt were marked and at least 58 were re-captured. Many recaptures occurred within the same month as the initial capture; however, smelt have been re-captured up to nine months after they were initially tagged. The results of the first year of the study will be presented, and we will discuss potential implications of apparent patterns of tag recoveries.
Session Title
Forage Fish Management and Conservation in the Salish Sea
Conference Track
Species and Food Webs
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2016 12:00 AM
End Date
2016 12:00 AM
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Forage fishes--Washington (State)--Puget Sound; Fish tagging--Research--Washington (State)--Puget Sound; Smelts
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Puget Sound (Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Testing the effectiveness of an inexpensive batch tagging method on Surf Smelt in Puget Sound
2016SSEC
Surf Smelt (Hypomesus pretiosus) are an important forage fish in the Salish Sea food web, and obligate beach spawners. Due to their small body size, high abundance, high mortality and extensive mobility, forage fish are not commonly considered good candidates for tagging studies. Despite these apparent drawbacks, we conducted a pilot study to determine whether low-cost batch tagging methods could be used to help answer questions about local movements and distribution of Surf Smelt in Puget Sound. Using a beach seine, two known spawning beaches in Eld Inlet, located in south Puget Sound, were sampled for smelt nearly once a month for a year beginning in December 2014. Smelt were tagged using a Visible Implant Elastomer (VIE) tag (Northwest Marine Technology), and released. Fish were tagged with various combinations of tag placement and colors denoting the date and location that the fish were originally encountered. Over eight thousand smelt were marked and at least 58 were re-captured. Many recaptures occurred within the same month as the initial capture; however, smelt have been re-captured up to nine months after they were initially tagged. The results of the first year of the study will be presented, and we will discuss potential implications of apparent patterns of tag recoveries.
