![]() Project Synopsis:A long-term priority in the assessment and management of coastal striped bass is determination of emigration and residency rates for striped bass produced in the Chesapeake Bay. Past tagging and otolith tracer analyses demonstrate that these rates vary strongly with size, sex, and season, but the data are too coarse to employ in current efforts by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to consider how the Chesapeake Bay contributes to Maryland, Potomac River, and Virginia fisheries, as well as those arrayed in mid-Atlantic and New England coastal waters. A unique and timely opportunity exists to leverage telemetry assets deployed by the US Navy, a cooperative Chesapeake Bay Sturgeon research project, and Atlantic state scientists cooperatively sharing data through the Atlantic Cooperative Telemetry Network and the Mid-Atlantic Acoustic Telemetry Observation System. Fishes and other animals outfitted with acoustic transmitters can now be tracked as they traverse into and out of the Chesapeake Bay and seasonally migrate in nearshore coastal waters (6-10 miles from shore). In this project, we will:
Have you seen this tag?
We are asking help from fishermen to release fish bearing yellow external Floy tags bearing these words. Please put these fish back so that they can tell us their story.
Small, thumb-sized transmitters are surgically
implanted in striped bass. Shown below are fish that are carefully treated under narcosis so that they can be
released promptly and in good condition.
The transmitters ping at 70 second intervals with a code that conveys information on that individual fish. Pings are heard at half a mile distance from receivers that we attach to buoys. Receivers stand about a foot high and weigh a couple pounds. These continuously listen for transmitters and record times when individual fish pass by. Every two months we retrieve receivers and download the stored data.
In the Potomac and mid-Bay, receivers will be deployed as shown in the map below. Cooperating scientists at Washington District Department of the Environment and USFWS have receivers deployed in upriver segments of the Potomac River. CSI investigators have receivers placed throughout the main-stem and other tributaries.
![]() Take a look at the our detections in Maryland waters (and beyond!) as of December 31, 2014. Please note that this is a product that will develop as we receive more detections.
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