THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 3, 1997 TAG: 9702030037
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HATTERAS ISLAND LENGTH: 44 lines
By inserting cigar-sized transmitters into the stomachs of giant bluefin tuna, biologists hope to learn more about one of the world's largest, most-popular and least understood fish.
Weighing as much as 1,500 pounds and growing up to 10 feet long, giant bluefin tuna have been congregating off the southern Outer Banks for the past four winters. Anglers have caught and released thousands of the prized fish. But scientists say they need to study the species further to develop better plans to protect the tuna.
So biologists from the National Marine Fisheries Service, Monterey Bay Aquarium and Stanford University have teamed up with sports fishermen and planned a three-week series during which the scientists will try to surgically implant high-tech tags into tuna that sports fishermen reel in.
``Tag a Giant'' will be held off Hatteras Island from Feb. 22 through March 15. Participants may bring their own offshore boats or charter one from a local marina for $1,000 a day. Anglers then purchase one or more archival tags - which sell for $1,500 each.
When they hook a fish weighing 300 pounds or more, fishermen radio a ``surgery boat'' traveling with the fishing fleet in the Atlantic. Biologists will transfer the fish to their boat, slit the tuna's stomach, insert the tag, stitch the wound and release the fish - usually in under five minutes.
If someone catches that same fish and retrieves the tag later, scientists will be able to tell where the tuna traveled, its body temperature, how deep it was swimming and even the temperature of the water around it for up to five years.
For the past three winters, anglers have been inserting spaghetti-sized string tags into the shoulders of bluefin tuna. If someone else catches the same tuna, he or she can call the National Marine Fisheries Service and find out where that fish was last caught and released. In July, two tuna that had been tagged off Hatteras during the winter of 1994-95 were recaptured off the coast of Sicily, Italy.
``It'll only take getting a handful of tags back to get a really revolutionary set of data about these tuna,'' said Capt. Bob Eakes, who owns a Buxton tackle shop. MEMO: Related story on Page A1.