07-21-2005, 06:57 PM
PIERRE, SD—Biologists with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks (DGFP) are investigating how changes in hatchery rearing techniques might improve the survival of salmon stocked in Lake Oahe, and they need help from anglers.
DGFP fisheries biologist Robert Hanten says thousands of specially-tagged chinook salmon have been stocked in Oahe during the past three years. A small coded wire tag, only a millimeter in length and the diameter of human hair, was implanted in these fish. The tag is invisible to anglers, but is indicated by a clipped adipose fin.
“This fin is removed as part of the tagging process” Hanten says. “If anglers catch a salmon missing the adipose fin, we’d like them to turn in the head of that salmon at a local bait shop, along with information on the fishes length, weight and the date it was caught.”
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DGFP fisheries biologist Robert Hanten says thousands of specially-tagged chinook salmon have been stocked in Oahe during the past three years. A small coded wire tag, only a millimeter in length and the diameter of human hair, was implanted in these fish. The tag is invisible to anglers, but is indicated by a clipped adipose fin.
“This fin is removed as part of the tagging process” Hanten says. “If anglers catch a salmon missing the adipose fin, we’d like them to turn in the head of that salmon at a local bait shop, along with information on the fishes length, weight and the date it was caught.”
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