November 28, 2017 — Cornell University, New York Sea Grant, and charter boat captains have teamed up on a high-tech mission to learn more about the behavior of King Salmon in the Lake Ontario ecosystem. They’re already getting valuable information from pop-off satellite tags attached to the fish.
New York Sea Grant Fisheries and Ecosystem Health Specialist Jesse Lepak narrated a video that shows the tagging process with the help of charter captains. It took about a month to tag 10 fish starting in early July.
“Once the fish are landed, they’re put in a Styrofoam cradle to help keep them calm, and lake water is pumped across their gills so they can breathe. The fish are then tagged with a monofilament harness that connects the tag to the fish. The harness is crimped, and the excess monofilament is cut off. The tagged fish is ready to go.”