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 of 2005, hosted by the Large Pelagics Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. A total of 98 juvenile fish (70-100 cm fork length) were implanted with either Lotek or Wildlife Computer implantable archival tags in 2005, another 25 tags were implanted in 2006 and an additional 5 and 2 in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The program was expanded to include X-tagging in 2007 (see below). All tags were implanted off of Cape Cod and the coast of Virginia. These tags record light levels to estimate daily geolocation, as well as depth, internal and ambient temperature every four minutes.

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), Dr. Greg Skomal (508-693-4372), or Drs. Jon Lucy and Rich Brill (804-684-7166). Fishermen are eligible for a $500 reward once the whole fish is received and the tag returned (see reward poster).

An exciting new development in the project is 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, yet it includes all of the features associated with a standard PSAT tag, plus some extras! A total of 31 of these X-Tags have been deployed so far on bluefin tuna during the summer of 2007 during just five tagging days aboard the F/V Tammy Rose, with Captain Eric Stewart at the Regal Sward and the F/V Cookie Too, with Captain Cookie Murray off of Gloucester, MA. In 2008, an additional 22 X-tags were deployed on juvenile bluefin tuna, with invaluable help from the crew of the F/V Tammy Rose, over eight days of tagging. Planning is underway for the 2009 tagging season, with plans to include juvenile X-Tagging in addition to our adult bluefin tuna tagging.

Another expansion of the program involves conventional tagging. Local charter fishermen have begun tagging bluefin with conventional tags for reporting with the Billfish Foundation and NMFS, as part of our Tag-a-Tiny (TM) program. To date, over 700 tags have been successfully released on juvenile bluefin tuna in the past three seasons. 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.

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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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