THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 28, 1996 TAG: 9603280355
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HATTERAS LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
A new tag-and-release project for giant bluefin tuna in Atlantic waters off this Outer Banks island could dramatically add to science's understanding of one of the most majestic - and baffling - fish in the sea.
Instead of the traditional spaghetti-size tag that watermen have tacked onto thousands of the fish before releasing them, researchers this week are inserting an electronic device into the body cavity that will record the bluefins' behavior, location, temperature and the temperature of the water they're swimming in.
But the data contained in the ``archival'' tag is useless unless the fish is caught, so scientists are offering an incentive for watermen. Pending approval from the National Marine Fisheries Service, anyone who turns in an electronic device from a giant bluefin tuna - in or out of season - will be rewarded with $1,000. The tag is two-tone, florescent orange and white and will notify the finder that it is an electronic device. A phone number is also included on the tag.
``We've put these tags in and the hope is they're (the bluefin) going to keep swimming,'' said Barbara Block, assistant professor at Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. ``Our wildest dream is that perhaps someone will recapture one of our tunas and from this, we'll learn where this tuna has been.
``A year of data will tell us more than a century of research has so far,'' Block said. ``That's how little we know about these bluefin tuna.''
A cylindrical device the size of a long test tube, the $1,500 electronic tag is made to last seven years, Block said. The researchers hope that before they leave Saturday they'll have tags in 20 fish.
Those tags will keep track of the tuna while they cruise an incredible range from the icy arctic to the warm tropical waters.
``This is distinct from other tags that have ever been used in fisheries,'' Block said, adding that the old tags merely told that ``it was here one day, and here another.
``This (new) tag is sort of the motion picture in between,'' she added.
As a member of the Tuna Research Conservation Center research team, Block is working with Eric D. Prince of National Marine Fisheries Service, Charles J. Farwell, curator of the Monterey Bay (Calif.) Aquarium, and Dr. Thomas Williams, veterinarian for Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Block said the researchers were drawn to Hatteras by reports in marine journals and fish magazines about what was pegged the ``bite of the century,'' the remarkable - and as yet unexplained - gathering of the giant bluefin off Hatteras.
The tuna can weigh up to 1,800 pounds and live 37 years, she said.
``This is the Holy Grail of fishing,'' Block said. ``The numbers of fish caught are exceeding in a single day what an individual person had caught in single year,'' Block said.
Thousands of the tuna, prized for both meat and fighting ability, have wintered off the coast of Hatteras for at least the past three years. To the delight of the local business owners and charter boat captains, the mysterious arrival of the giants has lured sport fisherman from around the world, turning the usual sleepy off-season months into a financial bonanza.
Prince said it's possible the bluefins were here for a long time but no one had noticed them out there.
The researchers credit Hatteras watermen for showing them how to pull a giant fish on a deck without injuring it.
``None of us knew what would happen when we put the fish on the boat,'' Block said. ``But it's a rather docile animal. Very quiet.''
After a bluefin is hooked and brought aboard, a wet blanket is placed under it and over its eyes like blinders. A hose with running water is put near its mouth. With a scalpel, a one-inch incision is made in the body near the stomach, and the electronic tag is pushed into the body cavity. The operation takes just a few minutes. Two stitches close the wound.
``They used our expertise as fisherman to bring it in and put the fish on the deck so they could surgically implant the tag,'' said Bob Eakes, owner of Red Drum Tackle in Buxton. ``The first implantation took six minutes and I was greatly relieved and a little surprised that the fish instantly swam off.''
Eakes has used his 35-foot sport fishing boat to catch bluefin for the scientists. Peter Wright is the captain of the other vessel used in the project.
Funded by the Lucille and David Packard Foundation of Palo Alto, Calif., the pilot program cost $25,000. Block said the team plans to be back at Hatteras next February and March for the continuation of the project, which is expected to cost $500,000. At that time, she said, she hopes to be able to put 150 tags in the tuna. She said members of the community will be asked to buy tags, with prizes for buyers whose tags wind up the farthest from Hatteras.
``We feel extremely positive,'' Block said of the project. ``We've had great success.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by CATHERINE KOZAK
Dr. Barbara Block holds the traditional and updated models of
monitoring devices inserted in bluefin tuna.
NEW ELECTRONIC FISH TAG
The tag is two-tone, florescent orange and white and will notify the
finder that it is an electronic device. A phone number is included
on the tag.
A cylindrical device the size of a long test tube, the $1,500
electronic tag is made to last seven years. Researchers hope that
before they leave Saturday they'll have tags in 20 fish.
The tags will keep track of the tuna while they cruise an incredible
range from the icy arctic to the warm tropical waters.
Pending approval from the National Marine Fisheries Service, anyone
who turns in an electronic device from a giant bluefin tuna - in or
out of season - will be rewarded with $1,000.
by CNB