High-Seas Salmonid Tag Recoveries & Expedition Application

Information collected by data storage tags (DSTs) carried by salmon and steelhead during their high-seas migrations provides researchers with information about movement patterns, migration routes, and changes in behavioral in response due to changing environmental conditions.

High seas salmon tagging began in the 1950s and continues to this day by placing disk tags, satellite tags, and DSTs 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 information regarding the distribution and ocean habitat of salmon while at sea. These life histories can be influenced by environmental changes and tracking such changes provides knowledge essential for the conservation of salmon stocks in North Pacific ecosystems. Recoveries of undamaged electronic tags is especially useful because they provide detailed information about salmon behavior and their environment, such as swimming depth, water temperature, and location. Disk and electronic tags are easy to see because they are placed outside the fish’s body, near the dorsal fin. If anyone ever recovers such tags, they are encouraged to send it to the NPAFC Secretariat or to any address that may appear on the tag itself.

Investigators considering exploring and using the data files from DSTs will find the information provided in the NPAFC Doc. 1512 metadata report crucial to understanding data file organization, column designations, and other data considerations essential for the appropriate use of this information. Although the report provides a brief background on the history and types of data tags used, it is primarily concerned with providing information, insight, and guidance to users of the data, with particular emphasis on the data’s limitations. Explanations are provided for raw and modified tag data files, individual tag metadata, and graphs for data visualization. For additional background, the report includes a list of published peer-reviewed articles and processed reports based on data originating from these DSTs.