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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 8
April 2006
Haddock movement mapped by tagging program
CHATHAM, MA - Anyone who comes across a haddock with a green spaghetti tag attached to its back should set it aside for some special attention. Doing so could lead to a nice cash prize and will definitely advance the cause of science and management.
With funding from the Northeast Consortium, the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association (CCCHFA) is acting as the central coordinating body for the Northeast Region Cooperative Haddock Tagging Program.
The program is also supported by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) and the National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
The goal of the program is to tag at least 20,000 haddock over two years targeting fish caught on longline gear. Tagging began in March 2005 and, to date, 15 fishermen trained as tagging technicians and following a highly standardize protocol have placed tags in more than 7,000 fish.
The fish are being tagged on both dedicated and nondedicated trips in open and closed areas in the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank.
Purpose
The CCCHFA web site describes the project as testing “existing assumptions about the spatial distribution of the stocks in New England waters” and notes that haddock movement in New England waters hasn’t been studied since the 1950s.
Tom Rudolph, CCCHFA’s director of cooperative research, explained that management measures for each fishing area are different but little is known for sure about how much of an interchange there is between the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank haddock stocks or between the eastern and western Georges Bank haddock substocks.
“Obv iously haddock is important to everyone’s future, and it’s a stock for which there’s a hard total allowable catch with Canada to the east,” Rudolph said. “It’s important that we tease out the exchange rates.”
The information generated as a result of tag returns could influence future stock assessment and management decisions.
Help out
Fishermen, dealers, and even fish plant workers have been invaluable in returning critical information to scientists in other tagging programs like those for cod and yellowtail. The haddock tagging program needs even more of that kind of support, Rudolph said.
While the federal cod tagging program put around 120,000 tags into a relatively small population of fish, the haddock tagging program is facing the opposite situation.
“By all accounts we’re dealing with a much bigger stock and a much smaller number of tags,” Rudolph said. “Every tag is important.”
Anyone who comes across a tagged fish should remove the tag and record the following information:
Tag number;
Fish length;
Location of capture;
Water depth and temperature;
Gear used to catch the fish;
Spawning condition;
Date and time of capture; and
“Fish fate,” meaning whether it was landed or put back over the side.
Reward
While that’s the required information, project organizers are also encouraging fishermen to jot down observations on the overall condition of the fish and the condition of the fish’s body where the tag was placed.
The tags are marked with contact information, including the project name, web site address, and a toll-free telephone number.
Every fisherman who files a completed report on a captured tagged haddock will get a program scratch ticket in the mail offering cash prizes up to $500.
The scratch tickets were designed and developed by CCCHFA as encouragement to convince fishermen to turn in the tags. According to the association, the overall odds of winning a cash prize are better than one in four.
Track a haddock
Returning a tag offers another bonus. Fishermen with Internet access can find out where their fish was tagged and how far it traveled before they caught it through an online mapping program.
The web site is at <www.gmamapping.org/haddockmapping> and is simple to use.
As of March 16, a total of 33 tags had been returned to the program.
“The few returns we’ve had so far indicate some of these fish move a substantial distance,” Rudolph said.
For more information on the haddock tagging program or to report finding a tagged haddock, call GMRI toll free at (866) 447-2111. More details are also available on the CCCHFA web site <www.ccchfa.org>.
Lorelei Stevens
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