Dolphin Tagging Research - July 2010

[Gary Lavallee]

Tag Recoveries Galore
The 2010 newsletters have reported on seven tag recoveries, but there have been 22 other reported tag
recoveries that have not had their stories told. Each of
these recovered fish offers important information to
science.
Case of the Hidden Tag
Andy Whitfield was fishing at the Deli off Savannah, Georgia, during an April 29, 2010, trip aboard the private
boat Catitude out of Edisto Island, South Carolina.
During the trip they caught five nice dolphin, in the 20-
pound class. It was only when back at the dock when the
meat had been filleted off the fish and the skin was being
removed that the piece of a tag was found. Only 1.75
inches of the tag were recovered. The serial number was
intact but there was no indication of to whom the tag
belonged. Because the tag had come from a dolphin, Mr.
Whitfield called the Dolphin Tagging Study office and
was told that it certainly was the program’s tag.
The fish had been tagged 540 miles to the south on
June 8, 2009, off Marathon, Florida, by the crew of the
Killin Time, owned by Don Gates. During its 325 days of
liberty it had most probably made a fall/winter tropical
jaunt to the south and was returning for its second
northerly trek along the U.S. East Coast when it was
recaptured. Remains of the tag clearly showed that the
tag had been pulled hard enough by some person or
animal to pop the tag, leaving just a small portion
behind. Eventually, the fish’s body grew over the tag,
leaving no external evidence of a tag. This demonstrates
that if the barb of the tag is implanted and properly
locked around a spine radiating from the backbone, it
will not come out easily.
Removed from a dolphin fillet, the thin, drawn-out tip on
the right indicates the tag has been stretched to the point
of breaking rather than having been cut or bitten off at
skin level.
Florida Fish off South Carolina
For the first seven years of the study no dolphin tagged off Florida were recovered off South Carolina. Then in
2009 a commercial longliner recovered a Florida fish on
the eastern side of the Gulf Stream on the Charleston
Bump, followed by a second Florida fish being recovered
later in the year in 110 feet of water off Charleston,
South Carolina. In 2010, two more Florida fish have
shown up off the Palmetto State.
The first fish was the “hidden tag” fish just discussed,
which was caught inside the 50-fathom curve on fishing
grounds shared with Georgia while the second fish was
recovered just inshore of the 100-fathom curve off
Charleston. Tagged May 24, 2010, off Islamorada,
Florida, by the crew of Capt. Ron Teke’s charter boat
Colorado Magic, the fish was recovered by the crew of
Capt. Wesley Morris’s boat, the Major Motion. The fish
had traveled 525 miles north of its release site during its
19 days of liberty. This fish averaged more than 27 miles
per day on its northward trek.
Read More July Dolphin Tagging Newsletter
Don Hammond
Cooperative Science Services, LLC