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A USD 500 reward is offered for returning whole tagged monkfish. (Photo: Stock File)
Monkfish tagged for migration research
UNITED STATES
Friday, January 29, 2010, 03:30 (GMT + 9)
Researchers are collaborating with commercial fishers to tag hundreds of monkfish (Lophius americanus) off southern New England and the Gulf of Maine to track where they venture during their lifetime and answer other questions.
"[...] Aspects of the fish's basic biology and behaviour are poorly understood, such as their migration patterns, what depths they live in and how they use habitat," explained Anne Richards, one of the study's lead investigators and monkfish expert at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Northeast Fisheries Science Centre (NEFSC) laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
Information from the tagged fish could also help determine whether there is one monkfish population throughout the north-western Atlantic Ocean or distinct northern and southern stocks, she said.
Richards, NEFSC colleague Larry Alade and researchers at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) and the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth began the project in 2009. Two commercial gillnet boats are collaborating to capture monkfish.
"We need the whole fish with its tags, and details about where and when it was caught, in order to get the most information we can from each fish," Richards said.
The reward for catching fish is USD 500.
Working with Crista Bank of New Bedford, Massachusetts, a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology, the team has already tagged 150 monkfish and hopes to tag another 190 soon.
The electronic tags are surgically implanted under the skin and record water temperature, depth and time every 10 minutes. The tags can record data for four to five years and work in depths up to 2,000 m.
A pair of conventional plastic t-bar tags are also attached around the tail with instructions on how to report the monkfish.
"We tag fish that are about 16-20 in-long, or roughly four to five years old and most likely mature. On our last trip we tagged 54 monkfish, some of which were up to 28 in-long," said Alade.
Tagged data can help tell more about how migration patterns differ between males and females and with maturity state, where monkfish spawn and how currents and tides affect monkfish. The study will improve understanding of the fish’s age and growth and the validity of methods used to estimate age.
The scientists plan to expand the study to include monkfish in the mid-Atlantic region down to Cape Hatteras, considered the southernmost area of their distribution in the northwest Atlantic.
Funding is being granted by the NOAA-supported Northeast Consortium and by the commercial fishing industry through its research set aside programme for monkfish.
By Natalia Real
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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