Archival Tagged Bluefin Recaptured in the Gulf of Mexico

The lab was a buzz with the news that an Atlantic bluefin tuna released in January of 2004 from North Carolina and implanted with an archival tag, was recaptured by a US longliner operating in the Gulf of Mexico. We look forward to receiving the tag the first ever returned in US waters on the spawning ground. We've been able for years to piece together the tracks of bluefin who move into the Gulf to breed from North Carolina, and New England releases, and from release of Pop up satellite tags from Gulf fish, but never have we obtained an archival tag- that is from the recent generation of our archival program- with this much promise. One Caveat, is this tuna is carrying an archival tag of the A-series in our long Development history of electronic tags- if only it had been D-series, I'd be super excited. The tags with an A have had a battery issue where after 700-800 days at sea in a warm tuna body the battery slowly corrodes and due to a mathematical error early on we do not pulse enough juice to remove the corrosion- this is called passivation. We all know what happens when batteries give out- fortunately we do get the data up until the battery fails. But.. there is good news- as we set the tag up for 120 seconds- a slow sampling rate, which should if all went well...give us potentially a 1000 day track or more. Now I may be counting my chickens too soon, but folks we've rarely ever been this enthusiastic to see an archival tag returned. More soon- when the tag arrives. So much has to work-Our tags are essentially computers- about as expensive, placed gently at sea into the body cavity of a bluefin- in this case it has within the fish, for years been taking data, and we can only hope that the tag, has remained intact and that when this large fish left the deck of the F/V Calcutta our surgery boat, we did not knock the light stalk a very thin Teflon coated sensor that carries the most delicate looking string of sensors you've seen. I hope it works.

Searching for Next Bluefin

Hi-

Well- the quest for 1000 did get pushed back by some number crunchers back at the lab
who informed me after reviewing our data base, I was off by 3 electronic tags. So...after thinking we had only 4 to go- we've got 7 more to implant or attach to reach the magic number of 1000. We had a splendid day aboard the Leslie Anne with Captain Gary Stuve, Mates Doug Roberts, And John Rafter- and of course we reminisced all day having spent years fishing together aboard this boat and the F/V Raptor. We had a Blue Planet Special as I call them- when we had diving gannets, feeding dolphins and tuna bites close by. It was super spectacular in some sporty seas- and crisp cold temperatures. Gary is a Captain who keeps meticulous records and he and I were on the bridge thinking about about conditions this year- and discussing years past- we have been in Morehead every year since 1999, and up in Hatteras collectively back to 1994. Its a bit more like 2005 this year- with a lot of phytoplankton (green water) right on Cape Lookout point and the bite more toward the west side. Lots of life in the ocean there but very concentrated. Fast moving schools of predators- birds and fish that are hard to keep track of- Elusive at best and moving fast if you find them. Together, Gary and our TAG Team have a lot of combined data sets on tagging- conventional, archival and satellite- a lot of power in the knowledge gained. After some cold but fun days fishing- I've decided I have to get back to the lab- where we have some super experiments and visiting scientists. Dr. Boustany will capably carry the team on the quest- and I am honestly sad that I did not get a shot at the 1000th tag. He will- and we all decided- we have to catch the fish ourselves- no tranfers for the 1000th Giant. I put up a picture of Captain Gary- doing what he does best- searching for fish- Good luck team!
Barb

Transfer, Catch, Tag and Release

The day was a sunny but cold with a stiff breeze and a consistent
swell- kind of reminds you its winter in Carolina. A small fleet of boats went out-
and a few fish were caught. Most were close by our team.
We were fortunate to get a transfer of a fish we were able to put two tags in (Pop-up and archival). It
was a nice fish that had an extra leader with algae growing on it- probably from years ago- we removed it. We put an archival in- and a pop up- we were getting a bit wet from waves coming through the transom door which always makes tagging exciting. No pictures as Andre and I were very busy- and Dave our mate handled the head end. The fish gave me a good run-in the chair- and we actually had to work for our transfer- reminiscent of the old days. The water was full of good signs- lots of bait, birds and dolphins. Today was the TAG teams last day with Captain Dale Britt aboard Sensation. We cannot say enough about his leadership, enthusiasm, hospitality, and skills. Dave our mate- has a love of tuna- that rivals ours- and he certainly enjoyed irrigating the fish with the deck hose and watching the colors come to life as the oxygen in the water revived the fish. They both did a super job this year- helping us put out a significant number of tags. We're over on the Leslie Anne- with Captain Gary Stuve & Co. for the next leg of TAG 2008! Barb

Dave Loves Tuna

Hello all. Three more tags were deployed on Thursday. Dale couldn't make it out with us due to prior commitments but Christopher "CR" Russell, longtime mate on the Sensation and Forthsomething stepped up to fill his Uggs. We were joined by Lesley Thorne and Jeremy Smith with Dave Jones rounding out the crew in the cockpit. We started off the day by heading back to the same area where we had caught our fish on Wednesday. We didn't have the gear in the water more than 15 minutes when the line started screaming off two of the reels. One of the fish pulld off almost instantly and we fought the other for about 10 minutes before it too pulled the hook. Needless to say, this was an exhilarating yet depressing start to the day. After setting the gear back out and drowning our sorrows in Jimmy Dean sausage biscuits, we regrouped and got back to the work of hunting the mighty bluefin. The sea was alive yet again, with gannets diving, dolphins jumping and plenty of bait fish appearing on the sounder. We weren't lucky enough to get another strike but we did get three fish transferred to us. So, three more fish that previously didn't have tags are now outfitted with the latest in fish tracking technology.

Thanks to CR, Dave, Lesley and Jeremy for a great day out on the water. It looks like we'll be getting out on the water again tomorrow (Saturday) so hopefully we'll have more exciting tales of tuna for you. Stay tuned...

Tuna Team Getting it Done

Hello tuna tagging fans. Sorry for the delay in getting the latest posts up, but we've been out on the water so much lately that I haven't had time to bring you updates from the field. On Wednesday the tuna taggers were joined by Duke postdoc Dr. Ari Friedlaender and Duke graduate student Elliott Hazen for a wonderful day on the water chasing our favorite sea dweller, the mighty bluefin tuna. The fishing was slow throughout the morning but by the early afternoon, the gannets were diving up a storm close inshore and we were marking a lot of bait underneath the boat. We trolled around the bait for about an hour before we finally hooked up a nice bluefin. Ari fought the fish hard and we had him up to the boat in less than 20 minutes. A quick surgery and the fish was on his way out the back of the boat to resume his day of feeding on the abundant bait fish that were congregating in the area. The photo above shows Ari and Captain Dale Britt working hard as I stitch up the fish and Dave keeps the deck hose in it's mouth to allow it to breathe. Elliott was behind the camera on the bridge. Great job everyone and thanks for all the help.

4 More Archivals in Bluefin Tuna

The weather has been good the past two days- and the TAG team has
been pushing slowly but surely forward- we caught our own fish on Wednesday
and tagged three more by transferring. The archivals are set up to record data
for up to five years- so hopefully one day- we'll see where these fish go- 5 years
from now- DNA samples and a sponge that can pick up mucous that helps us determine
gender are all part of the TAG arsenal of tactics to learn more about these fish.
Keep up the tagging team!

A Tribute to Rich Novak

This is the time in the year- when our close knit TAG teams remembers that our quest to place 1000 electronic tags on Atlantic bluefin has come with the highest price- our beloved friend, researcher and angler Rich Novak passed away 4 years ago this week doing what he loved best-helping us tag tunas. To Rich's family and friends- The tag team, led by Captain Dale Britt, will keep his spirit alive as we go out for the first time this week- to continue toward the goals that Rich gave so much for. We fight for bluefin with Rich in our hearts- Barb