Friday, June 23, 2017

PLEASE WATCH OUT FOR TAGGED SALMON!

This summer, from July on, a large number of salmon will be caught at Armadale on the Scottish north coast, tagged with acoustic tags of about 18 mm (¾”) in length by Marine Scotland Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory, and released.

It is thought that the salmon will include ones destined for rivers all around Scotland and arrangements are being made for there to be fixed receivers, including ones close to the mouths of many rivers, to detect tagged fish as they pass.

In addition, Marine Scotland would like the help of anglers who should watch out for tagged salmon.  The tag (black cylinder, as shown in the photograph) will be near the dorsal fin and if you catch a salmon with a tag, then please remove it by cutting through the plastic attachment cord and send it to Armadale Tracking, Marine Scotland, Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory, Faskally, Pitlochry, Perthshire PH16 5LB (phone 01796 472060) with a note of day and location of capture and your name, postal and, if applicable, email address, and the Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory will send you a £20 reward.

If you have any other information about the fish (for example a photo, length, or sex of the fish), then please include it when you send in the tag. However, please do not delay the safe return of the fish to the water to obtain any such information.

The tagging will produce extremely useful information on the coastal and in-river movements of salmon, so please watch out for tagged fish, which could turn up anywhere, and return the tags as requested.

Example of tag and plastic attachment cord.
The tags will be attached near the dorsal fins of the fish.
Please note that the colour of the attachment cord will not necessarily be yellow.