Saturday, March 15, 2008
Archival Tagged Bluefin Recaptured in the Gulf of Mexico
Monday, January 28, 2008
Searching for Next Bluefin
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
Sunday, January 27, 2008
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
Friday, January 25, 2008
Dave Loves Tuna
Tuna Team Getting it Done
Thursday, January 24, 2008
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!


