The State Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been working together to learn more about coho salmon run timing, migratory patterns and spawning distribution, and will this month be radio tagging adults.
According to a press release from the department, this is the second of three years for the study. Coho salmon will be caught and tagged starting this month and running through mid-October in drift gillnets between the Funny River confluence and the Sterling Highway bridge.
Up to 490 transmitters will be implanted into healthy salmon this year. Tagged fish will be tracked throughout migration using receivers at fixed ground locations, on boats and by air.
The tagged fish can be identified both by a small antenna wire coming from the mouth and by a small yellow tag with a five-digit number near the dorsal fin.
If a tagged salmon is harvested, anglers are asked to report to either the department or the wildlife service with the location and date of the catch, as well as the code from the tag or identifying information from the radio unit. A phone number will be displayed on both the tag and the radio unit.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
