Large Pelagic Research Lab's Tag A Tiny(TM) Program

The Large Pelagics Research Lab initiated its Tag A Tiny (TM) program in the summer of 2005, designed to study the annual migration paths and habitat use of juvenile bluefin tuna. The project was recommended by a group of leading scientists who attended the Juvenile Bluefin Assessment Workshop in March in 2005, hosted by the Large Pelagics Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

There are currently three facets to this growing program: conventional tagging, internal archival tagging, and pop-up satellite tagging.

Since the program's inception, there have been over 900 conventional tags released by recreational anglers in our public outreach program. This year (2009) marked our second annual Tag A Tiny Tournament, featuring locations both north and south of Boston to accommodate as many anglers as possible. If you would like to help the Large Pelagics Research Lab with tagging of juvenile bluefin with conventional tags, contact us using the form on the right of this page. Also, find out which fishing shows we will be attending by heading to our news page.

A total of 130 juvenile bluefin have been implanted with either Lotek or Wildlife Computer implantable archival tags since 2005. These tags allow depth, temperature and location data to be collected, but they need to be recovered to obtain their valuable information. We need your help! The tagged fish can be identified by a bright green “spaghetti tag” indicating the presence of an archival tag within the fish. Anglers are encouraged to retain the whole fish if caught and immediately contact Large Pelagics Research Center Director Dr. Molly Lutcavage (603-862-2891). Fishermen are eligible for a $500 reward once the whole fish is received and the tag returned (see reward poster).

The program has been expanded to include X-tagging since 2007. New tagging technology has allowed the addition of Microwave Telemetry's newest archival tag, the X-Tag. It is roughly half the size of the standard PSAT tag, and much lighter, therefore appropriate for use on these smaller fish. It includes all of the features associated with a standard PSAT tag, plus some extras! A total of 58 of these X-Tags have been deployed so far on bluefin tuna since the summer of 2007, with invaluable help from our cooperative tagging partners aboard the F/V Tammy Rose and the F/V Cookie Too.

Want to get involved? Contact us using the form to the right. Or, if you're interested in the annual tournament, click here.

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In late May and early June, juvenile east Atlantic bluefin tuna migrate to the northeast Atlantic waters searching for food. In the inner Bay of Biscay, a baitboat fishery operates until late October-early November, when juveniles disappear from the fishing ground. While some migrations have been observed between the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean or the western Atlantic , little is known about their horizontal and vertical migration patterns and their relationship with juveniles from remote areas. Because the catch rates of the Bay of Biscay baitboat fishery are used to estimate the only recruitment index available for the eastern stock, it is very important to know both horizontal and vertical migration variability of juvenile bluefin, as it will affect the catch rates.

With this objective, AZTI Tecnalia is conducting several electronic tagging activities, which include sonic tracking and internal archival tagging activities. Sonic tracking activities started in 2005 and continued through 2006. During 2006 through 2008, and with plans to continue into 2009, implantable archival tags have been deployed in juvenile bluefin in coordination with University of New Hampshire in an attempt to cover both east and west Atlantic bluefin tuna at the same time. See the reward poster for more information on the program.

An exciting update of the AZTI program occurred September 14, 2007. Angler George Morris caught a fish sporting an AZTI Tecnalia conventional tag east of the Regal Sword (where the Large Pelagics Research Lab conducts a lot of it's tagging). Many thanks to Captain Sanford Hochman (seen on right with fish) for contacting us and giving us the information!

This fish was originally tagged on July 31, 2005 on a 68 cm tuna off of Bizkaiko Galkoa, Basque Country by angler Peio Olazabal. It was caught 775 days later off of Chatham, Massachusetts. The fish had grown to 114 cm! The fish traveled no less than 3330 miles during it's trek!

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