Project / Program Name
 Striped Bass Cooperative Tagging Program |
Project / Program Date
1985 - Present |
Project / Program Description
In 1985, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in cooperation with the National Marine Fisheries Service, state agencies, and universities, developed studies through Section 7 of the Anadromous Fish Conservation Act. Such studies included a coast-wide striped bass tagging program and a hatchery stocking program. These programs were designed to estimate rates of exploitation, mortality rate, migration, and contribution of hatchery-reared fish to wild stocks. Between 1985 and 1993, more than 9 million tagged hatchery-reared striped bass fingerlings were released into the Chesapeake Bay system. Hatchery-reared striped bass were marked with an internal binary coded wire tag, which is a tiny micro-encoded piece of wire that commercial and/ or recreational fishermen cannot see but researchers can detect with specialized equipment. These tags are used to gather information on the contribution of hatchery-reared fish to the wild population. For instance, in 1988, hatchery fish comprised close to half of Maryland's young-of the-year striped bass in some rivers. Furthermore, those juvenile striped bass released in the Chesapeake Bay eventually contributed to the coastal population. In fact, tagged hatchery-reared fish, released into the Chesapeake Bay, have been recovered as adults as far north as New Brunswick, Canada, over 1,000 miles from the point of release. Today, as hoped, hatchery fish are far out-numbered by wild fish in the Chesapeake Bay. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources reported that the 1996 young-of-the-year index was the highest since the survey began in 1954. This is particularly impressive given that there were no hatchery releases in 1996. Besides the hatchery release program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and cooperating agencies, have tagged more than 392,000 striped bass with external anchor or "spaghetti" tags since 1985. A central database, managed by the Maryland Fishery Resources Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, stores coast-wide tagging information and fishery dependent and independent survey data. The information from this database is used to develop appropriate management measures to maintain a sustainable striped bass fishery. If you catch a tagged striped bass, you should cut off the tag and record the date, location, and method of capture. If you are unable to cut off the tag, write down the tag number along with the required information. You should then report the information as soon as possible to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Maryland Fishery Resources Office at
1-800-448-8322. Any person who report tags will receive a certificate of participation and a hat with a picture of a striped bass on the front.
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