Metro Page, Hatchery Coho. Giggle. OOPS!

[Jennie@ifish]

I don't get it! It reads: Pictured above is a Bonneville hatchery-reared coho salmon that returned to Bonneville Fish Hatchery is scanned Wednesday for embedded tags... <font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">Then, the picture is an adipose intact fish!
You know, one of the "non clipped" fish!

I had to look twice, and thrice, and...

So, are they nose tagging ones now, and not clipping? I'm confused!

[ 10-16-2003, 06:10 AM: Message edited by: Jennie@ifish ]

[Rubber Hooks]

Jen, that picture shows why all hatchery fish need to be adipose clipped. Adipose clipping is an easy way to identify all hatchery fish. Until this happens, any statement by the Fisheries management people as to the number of native fish left in any drainage is nothing but a WAG!!!. I dont understand how the Fisheries managers can accurately state what runs are endangered when they dont have the foggiest idea of how many natives are left in any area. I suspect that most native stocks are already diluted by hatchery stocks. This is why adipose clipping is a must. We have to give the Fisheries people an accurate way of seeing just how many natives are actually left.
I dont want to start a war or any thing, but this how I see it
Rubber Hooks

[ampersat]

i would think that in the interest of getting their radio tagged fish back at the hatchery, they would not clip the adi on it. imagine fileting up your fresh catch only to find the radio tag. OOPS! i thought that the radio tags trailed out of the fish's mouth but for someone who's never actually seen one (like me) there's a good chance that they would just keep the fish.

[Jennie@ifish]

I don't get it. Is it a mistake, or is that a hatchery fish?

Jen

[Fishmstr]

Radio tags are either surgically implanted in the gut cavity or is shoved down their gullet. Either way there would be an antenna coming out of the fish, unless it was a sonic tag. However, you wouldn't scan for a radio or sonic tag with the fish in hand. They may be scanning for PIT tags or a coded wire tag. No matter what, if it is a hatchery fish, it should have a clipped fin. Since they clip the fish as juveniles, they would not leave the fin on for a hope that they would be able to catch it again in two years to put a tag in it. Highly improbable. Not sure what is up....???
steve

[cosmo]

There is a percentage of hatchery fish that are left unclipped. Some are for the hatcheries to use as a control against the clipped fish that are retained in the sport fishery (assess harvest rate). Above Bonneville, the tribes have negotiated non-clipped fish to assure that they receive ample fish for their nets (get them passed through the sport fishery). That should change with the bill signed this year mandating that all Federally produced spring chinook, steelhead and silvers be clipped.

[Point-of-Sale Clerk]

Cosmo is correct :smile: , a large percentage of hatchery raised fish on the Columbia are released with no finclip. Some do have a PIT tag, some have a CWT while others have nothing at all :rolleyes:

[Crashin' Bait]

Could have also been a bad fin clip that grew back. :shrug: