What if you catch a tagged fish

You are out fishing in Eluthera/Abaco/Grand Bahama/Cuba/Andros and you hook up on a bonefish. After the customary display of the backing, you get land that fish, finding a thin piece of plastic sticking up out of the back of the fish just behind the dorsal fin.

You have recaptured a fish which has previously been caught and tagged by researchers. So… what now?

You have two options.

1) Record length, date, location, clip off the tag and send it all in to the good folks at BTT.
2) The other option, which is preferred, is recording the same information as above, but also the tag number. Then the fish is released with the tag still in. While the odds are slim, it provides the chance that the fish can be recaptured again (it has happened a few times). The collected information is mailed or emailed to BTT.
See? Easy.
Nice bone, tagged and ready to go. Photo by Cameron Miller.

Nice bone, tagged and ready to go. Photo by Cameron Miller.

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2 comments

  1. Thanks for sharing! I’d be torn if I couldn’t read the tag number in a timely manner and be faced with cutting off the tag -but some knowledge is better than no knowledge! BTT informed me that algae often grows on the tags making in-the-field identification difficult.

  2. Doug Jeffries

    Good stuff, Bjorn. We tagged 28 tarpon around Campeche last year too. I think they’ve had one recapture so far but have seen a few with the tags.

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