Conventional Tags Vs. Sat Tags
Another argument often heard around the docks is that we no longer need conventional tags because satellite tags take up the slack. Well, pop-up satellite archival tags, or PSATs, have truly revolutionized the study of oceanic fishes, but they did not replace conventional tags.
PSATs record various data such as water temperature, depth and light intensity over a relatively short period of time. The tag then jettisons off the fish and floats to the surface before it transmits the data off to a satellite, which then e-mails it to the researcher. The tags have unlocked many secrets on feeding habits and work great for certain applications such as post-release studies. However, PSATs are not engineered to stay on fish for long periods of time.
"Up until very recently, much of the biological information scientists relied on came from a conventional contingency-based tagging agency," Prince says. "The data you get from a conventional tag is quite different than an electronic tag. The problem is that the duration of monitoring is relatively short for an electronic tag."
There's also the cost factor. Satellite tags come with a high price tag, upward of $4,000 apiece, and they don't always work; some pop off prematurely or don't transmit properly after releasing from the fish. For the price of one satellite tag, you can purchase more than 1,300 conventional tags from TBF (they cost $30 for a set of 10).
"With a conventional tag, you're getting long-term info," Snodgrass says. "You don't see long-term global movement with sat tags. You can get a lot of data on a specific fish's movement up and down, but you don't get info on sheer numbers of fish and their trans-Atlantic movements. Satellite tags are expensive and short term, while conventional tags are cheap and long term."
No matter how you slice it, tagging fish with conventional spaghetti tags helps us learn more about marlin. And the more we know, the better off we are. "Conventional tagging is one of the best ways to supply our scientists with the info they need to help with policy issues and learn more about the biology of these fish," Chaibongsai says.
Give back to billfish and tag one for the future. "If not for the cooperation of the recreational angling community as a whole, we'd be a lot farther back in our knowledge base," says Prince.
A Tag Story
On July 9, 2009, Todd Beene of Tallulah, Louisiana, was fishing with Capt. Alberto Alvarez on Miss Tropic Star, out of the legendary Tropic Star Lodge in Piñas Bay, Panama, and enjoyed the full Tropic Star treatment, catching his first blue marlin. At roughly 250 pounds, the fish was no monster, but it fought hard and put on a good show all the way to the leader. At boat-side, mates Alirio Sabogara and Andrew Mosquera noticed the fish was carrying a tag. The mates settled the fish down to where they could control it and carefully removed the embedded tag. They then replaced the tag with a new one and released the marlin.
Turns out this same fish was tagged and released by Sonny Seale on December 22, 2008, some 203 days earlier while fishing on one of Tropic Star's boats. The fish was originally tagged just six miles away from the spot Miss Tropic Star recaught the fish. No wonder the fishing at Tropic Star is so good — the fish just keep coming back year after year.
Tagging Agencies
Many tagging agencies exist across the United States and abroad. You can find an agency for nearly every species of game fish. The website www.fishtaginfo.com provides a long list of tagging organizations, but the five listed below offer the most established billfish programs.
The Billfish Foundation
954-938-0150
www.billfish.org
Cooperative Billfish Tagging Program, La Jolla
858-546-7000
http://swfsc.noaa.gov
suzanne.kohin@noaa.gov
Cooperative Tagging Center, Miami
800-437-3936
http://swfsc.noaa.gov
tagging@noaa.gov
New South Wales Gamefish Tagging Program
011-61-2-9527-8411
www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries
New Zealand Cooperative Game Fish Tagging Program
www.fish.govt.nz
info@fish.govt.nz
