Pacific Salmon and Steelhead High-seas Tag Recovery Program

High seas salmon tagging has been conducted from the 1950s to the present by placing disk tags on salmon and steelhead during research cruises in the North Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Alaska, and Bering Sea. These studies have been used to investigate ocean distribution, migration, and growth of salmon at sea. Reporting salmon and steelhead tag recoveries is important because it provides direct evidence of the distribution and ocean habitat of salmon, which can be affected by climatic changes, and helps to conserve salmon stocks in North Pacific ecosystems. Some disk-tagged fish also carry an electronic tag. Recoveries of undamaged electronic tags provide detailed information on the individual salmon’s behaviour by recording the fish’s swimming depth and other information about the fish’s habitat. Disk tags and electronic tags are easy to see because they are placed outside the fish’s body, near the dorsal fin. Please return high seas salmon and steelhead tags.

Rewards for Tag Recovery

Any member of the public (non-fishery agency personnel) who returns a NPAFC High Seas Tag from June 1, 2022 to December 31, 2025, to a national contact (see list below) will be awarded $300 (CDN) for each recovered tag, up to five people.

About Tags

Disk Tags

Several types of plastic disk tags have been placed on salmon and steelhead. These disk tags are about 3/4″ (19 mm) in diameter and each is imprinted with a unique identification number.

- red NPAFC-logo plastic disk tag (Fig. 1A and B)
- other tags are red and white, or solid red plastic disks (Fig. 1C and D).

Electronic Tags

Several types of electronic data-recording tags have been placed on salmon and steelhead (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Guide for Reporting Tags

Tag return posters can be viewed for each member country:

What to do if you Catch a Tagged Fish

Collect tag (if tag can not be collected, then record tag number and description (disk or electronic))
Record recovery location, date, species, gear, sex, length, and weight
Collect scales for age determination and growth analysis
Send tags with your name, phone number, and email to one of addresses below to get release information about the fish and a reward.

Tag Return Addresses

Canada
John Holmes
Pacific Biological Station
3190 Hammond Bay Road Nanaimo, BC, V9T 6N7 Canada
Tel: +1-250-756-7145
E-mail: John.Holmes@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Japan
Shunpei Sato
Fisheries Resources and Ecology Division
Salmon Research Department
Fisheries Resources Institute (FRI)
Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency
2-2 Nakanoshima, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo 062-0922, Japan
Tel: +81-011-822-2131
Email: sato_shunpei50@fra.go.jp

Korea
Jong Kuk Choi
Aquatic Living Resources Center, East Sea Branch
Korea Fisheries Resources Agency (FIRA)
119 Dongmyeong-ro, Sonyang-myeon, Yangyang-gun
Gangwon-do 215-821, Republic of Korea
Tel: +82-33-670-1613
E-mail: aswed2000@fira.or.kr

Russia
Alexander Bugaev
Kamchatka Fishery and Oceanography Research Institute (KamchatNIRO)
18, Naberezhnaya Street
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky 683602, Russia
Tel: +7-4152-412-701
E-mail: Bugaev.A.V@kamniro.ru

USA
Andrew Gray
Auke Bay Laboratories
17109 Point Lena Loop Road
Juneau, AK 99801, USA
Tel: 907-789-6047
E-mail: Andrew.Gray@noaa.gov

Results for Recent Tagging Experiments

Recoveries of High Seas Tags and Tag Releases from High Seas Research Vessel Surveys in 2023
NPAFC Doc. 2165, 2024

Recoveries of high seas tags and tag releases from high seas research vessel surveys in 2022
NPAFC Doc. 2105, 2023

Recoveries of high seas tags and tag releases from high seas research vessel surveys in 2021
NPAFC Doc. 2037, 2022

Recoveries of high seas tags and tag releases from high seas research vessel surveys in 2020
NPAFC Doc. 1968, 2021

Recoveries of high seas tags and tag releases from high seas research vessel surveys in 2019
NPAFC Doc. 1916, 2020

Recoveries of high seas tags and tag releases from high seas research vessel surveys in 2018 and the winter of 2019
NPAFC Doc. 1839, 2019

Recoveries of high seas tags and tag releases from high seas research vessel surveys in 2017
NPAFC Doc. 1758, 2018

Recoveries of high seas tags and tag releases from high seas research vessel surveys in 2016
NPAFC Doc. 1706, 2017

Recoveries of high seas tags and tag releases from high seas research vessel surveys in 2015
NPAFC Doc. 1659, 2016

Recoveries of high seas tags and tag releases from high seas research vessel surveys in 2014
NPAFC Doc. 1600 (Rev.1), 2015

Recoveries of high seas tags in 2012–2013 and tag releases in 2013 from high seas research vessel surveys in the North Pacific Ocean
NPAFC Doc. 1535, 2014

Recoveries of high-seas tags in 2011 and tag releases in 2012 from high seas research vessel surveys in the North Pacific Ocean
NPAFC Doc. 1438, 2012

Recoveries of high-seas tags in 2010 and tag releases in 2011 from high seas research vessel surveys in the North Pacific Ocean
NPAFC Doc. 1358, 2011

2009 Reported Recoveries of high seas tags and tag releases in 2010 from high seas research vessel surveys in the North Pacific Ocean
NPAFC Doc. 1268 (Rev.1), 2010

Recoveries of high seas tags in 2008–2009 and tag releases in 2009 from high seas research vessel surveys in the North Pacific Ocean
NPAFC Doc. 1197 (Rev.1), 2009

Recoveries of high seas tags in 2007–2008 and tag releases in 2008 from high seas research vessel surveys in the North Pacific Ocean
NPAFC Doc. 1119, 2008