Miniature tag technology
From The Emergent City:
Miniature tag technology has helped unlock the mysteries of the journey undertaken by juvenile salmon in the North-West United states. A team of researchers fitted the novel devices to 1,000 of the young fish and tracked their progress from the Rockies through the Pacific to Alaska. The scientists hope to use the tags in the future to learn more about the movements of other small fish species. The study was part of a 10-year global project called Census of Marine Life. Although tags have been used in the past to track mature salmon along their coastal migration, it is the first time the technology has been used on juveniles, otherwise known as smolt. Jim Bolger, executive director of the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (Post) project, said the findings were a major step forward in understanding the life cycle of the species.
“But thanks to new sound-emitting tags, about the size of an almond, combined within an extensive coastal network of underwater detectors from Alaska to California, several mysteries of fish migration may soon start to unravel.”
More info here.
Actually, acoustic tags have been used for years in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) tracking juvenile salmonids through hydropower dams. To-date, our company alone (HTI Hydroacoustic Technology, Inc., Seattle, WA) has distributed and employed roughly 90,000 acoustic tags for fisheries research. Though primarily used on the Columbia River, fisheries biologists have done studies all over the world in rivers, at hydropower dams, in lakes, estuaries, and other aquatic environments (e.g. net pens).
It’s not new technology, however, it is rapidly evolving technology. We’re closing in on nearly a decade now of engineering and employing acoustic tags for tracking fish behavior (in 2D and 3D), conducting survival studies, and measuring bypass effectiveness.
Though some consider the PNW more ecologically conscious then elsewhere, the majority of the public is unaware of the progress being made. Tag tracking research is impacting critical environmental decisions that directly and indirectly effect our communities and ourselves. We’re making a positive difference and I’m happy to see the progress gaining visibility in the press.