Eating tagged fish

[blaze]

Hi Guys
I run TASTAG for a few years,
Fish are tagged for the sole purpose of reseach, if the fish retains the tag and is recaptured, even if it is only 10 hours later and 5km away there is valuable info to learn from that and if that fish is at that point is retained by someone that wants a fresh feed the fish has served 2 purposes.
If a fish is swimming with a tag for 10 years and dies on the bottom somewhere 500km from point of being tagged it has served no purpose other than what nature intended.
The only thing any tagging organisation would ask is PLEASE phone the toll free number on the tag and supply as much info as you can (even if you only found the tag on the last mouthful.)
cheers
blaze

[DaMaGe]

hahaha this thread is a classic, I was expecting people to be like "tag fish go back" but all these jokes about toothpicks and mantle pieces is really funny. Good on ya!

I have caught a few tagged tailor and a tagged squire at mud, all returned, phoned them up, got a certificate n all that shit and probably would throw the fish back in future, though if I had a trophy fish I always wondered if I would or not, but for the time being I say I would release it.

My dad caught a tagged tailor (many years ago) and reported it to get himself a shirt, wtf happened to that idea, all I got was a certificate, where is my god damn shirt!

[aussiefool]

Here I was thinking that they do not tag Tailor as I target them all year round and never ever cought a tagged fish of any type... as to what I would do with it? no idea more likly that not keep it after all that is one of the reasons I go fishing to catch a feed of fresh fish, donn't get me wrong I'm all for releasing breading stock but if it is over min. size into the chiller it goes

[Duyz72]

It would probably be a lot easier to release, tag in place, if they were biting really well and one more/ one less didn't really matter.

Of course if it was the only legal one for the day????

[Mishinoffishin]

Tagged fish taste best .

[sandgroper]

Reel Magic, I think you said it in one. Totally agree with you!

[jeffo]

im a bit disapointed with you lot... being a person who has spent hundred of hours out tagging fish (not just game fish, but flathead,whiting and bream) i know the satisfaction that comes with getting your fish recaught (ive had about 15).

like blaze said the pupose of tagging fish is to find out, where they move to, how fast they grow, how far they travel.
nearly all of you have said that you have never caught a tagged fish or only caught very few, so what percentage of your total catch is that over the years you have been fishing??

is throwing one fish back out of maybe 1000 so bad? sure the fish has already provided information with a single recapture, but how much more info could it supply if recaught twice or even more times??

if the tag was unseen till the fish was dead then thats a different story , but is throwing one fish back for the greater good of our sport a hard thing to do? i i think not.

[blaze]

Hi Jeffo
I agree but if a fish has been in the water for a long time, the amount of time to clean and read the tag may well impede the future prospect of that fish living any lenth of time. some times the fish may be better humanely dispatched and accurate info recorded and sent to the correct place. Qld has some of the best tagging datta recorded with a huge amount of fish tagged.
cheers
blaze

[Mishinoffishin]

Sorry Jeffo .....they just taste better and the tag makes a great toothpick after eating .

[HORTO]

i'd have to agree with the points made by blaze and jeffo,
as i'm currently studying how this information can be used (BAppSc Fisheries). i think the main thing to remember weather you throw the fish back or not is to ring the number and get the info to the poeple that can use it to learn more about our fish.

in some cases the researchers may even want the fish kept so that they can acurately determine the age of the fish and sexual maturity.

does everyone know what to record if you do catch a taged fish?

in the end the decision is yours.
but please do your part, so we can understand and protect our fish for the future.

cheers,

[sandgroper]

Ive caught a tagged fish before & i released it only because it was undersized. I rang up the number on the tag and gave them the info they were after & a few weeks later I recieved a certificate in the mail, however if that fish was legal I would of kept it & I am allowed to do that so don't have a go at the people who keep tagged fish that are legal.

If you don't want to keep a tagged fish than thats your own choice but you don't have a right to criticise people like myself who wish to keep a legal sized tagged fish! If you don't like it than protest to the DPI and try and have the rules changed.

[Billo]

agree with Jeffo and Blaze ....

the odds of a tagged fish being recaptured are slim ...yet when they are VALUABLE information is taken .
If you decide to take and eat it ...your call , fair enough ....but the odds of a tagged fish being caught multiple times are even slimmer .....it is those fish which bring EVEN MORE valuable information to the research gurus ....why not throw it back and increase the odds of recording another hit .....how many have ever caught a tagged fish ???? The more that stay in the water , the more research is done .

Your call if you keep it or not , but there truly is a greater good that can be served and serves us all!

[BeastMaster]

Hello fellows,
I've tagged some 470 odd fish this year.( mostly snapper.)
Unknown to most of you there is a fair bit more information being studied other than migratory habits and growth rates .ie total trip/ time catch , release condition ,barotrauma ,injury ,hooking ,gear d ,bait/ lure types and sizes , temperature of water data to name a few. Its actually fairly time consuming filling out a tag trip sheet. All this data is collated and studied by lots of people in the hope of sustaining our fish stocks for YOU. I agree its up to you whether you decide to eat or release a tagged fish , but just remember that someone caught it before you , and if they had decided to eat it ,you wouldnt have had the pleasure of catching it.having said my bit - here's a photo of the ones I didnt tag last weekend - You dont relly have to keep tagged fish to take home a nice little meal.

[Daintreeboy]

just to carry on the sarcastic nature of this thread as it is pretty funny
why bother releasing the fish. GBRMPA ignore the scientific evidence anyway don't they?
A coral trout fishery proven to be quite healthy and sustainable by their own research even and they still close it all down HA
In all seriousness though Jeffo has a point. Having said that, how many of us have a pen and paper handy when on board, smething worth considering?
Cheers, Mark.

[jeffo]

billo-i have only ever caught 2 tagged fish, one whiting (that i tagged myself), and a flathead.

tagged over 500 fish from whiting to blue marlin and only about 15 recaputres.