58 



DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME 



Gate, five days a week all season. A mutually acceptable arrangement 

 was made whereby the department furnished a man to do the tagging and 

 paid part of the expenses, while each participating skipper furnished his 

 boat, time and gear, and organized the fishermen who were to catch the fish 

 for tagging. Many salmon were tagged, and the favorable public relations 

 and good will generated by this program made it highly successful from 

 the viewpoint of both the department and the sportfishers. The fishermen 

 thoroughly enjoyed the free trips even when their "big one" was thrown 

 back with a tag on its back. 



This voluntary tagging program stimulated efforts to develop a new, 

 more satisfactory salmon tag. To realize the most benefit from a tagging 

 program, a tag must be found that : can be put on small salmon and yet 

 not be adversely affected by their rapid growth ; is not affected by sea 

 water, the fish 's body tissues, or by electrolysis ; is not toxic to the fish ; 

 does not handicap a tagged fish as compared to an untagged one, or make 

 it more easily caught, as, for example, in the gill net fishery ; is readily 

 seen by the fishermen and has adequate instructions for its return ; can 

 be applied with practical uniformity and ease by taggers of varying 

 degrees of experience and aptitude. No such tag exists. In an effort to 

 develop a tag closer to the ideal, a new design was tried out in early 1952. 

 Results to date indicate that it is neither better nor worse than the disk 

 tag that has been used in the past ; however, results will not be conclusive 

 until after the close of the 1953 season. 



In essence, the new tag is a sealed tube of plastic that passes through 

 the base of the dorsal fin and forms a loop when the ends are fastened 

 together with a stainless steel clamp. The tag number and return informa- 

 tion is sealed inside the transparent tube. 



TABLE 2. KING SALMON TAGGED IN THE SACRAMENTO- 

 SAN JOAQUIN RIVER DELTA 



To test the relative value of the new tag as compared to the more 

 standard Peterson disk, fish were tagged in the following sequence : 

 first fish — disk tag ; second fish — tube tag ; third fish — both tags. Single- 

 tagged-fish returns give a direct comparison of " returnability " of each 

 tag — that is, these returns indicate the rate of recovery and whether 

 or not a tag is seen and sent in to the department. Supplemental to the 



