SUMMARY

• Main Authors: G. De Metrio, G. P. Arnold, J. M. De La Serna, P. Megalofonou, A. A. Buckley
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Greenland; Greenland Sea
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.486.1841; http://www.iccat.int/Documents/CVSP/CV052_2001/no_2/CV052020776.pdf

Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) tagging experiments using “pop-up ” tags (EU FAIR Project N. 97/3975) were carried out between June 1998 and August 2000. The tags were programmed to detach themselves from fish and float to the surface after intervals of between 5 and 300 days, providing, by means of the Argos satellite system, 61 average hourly or daily sea temperature data and pop-up position. Twelve fish were tagged in 1998 at Stintino (northern Sardinia, Italy) and Barbate (Spain). Forty fish were tagged in 1999: 23 at Barbate; 5 in northern Aegean Sea and 12 at Bonifacio (Corsica).Seven fish were tagged in 2000 in Greece. Six (50%) of the 1998 tags and six (15%) of the 1999 tags popped up successfully; no return from the tags placed in 2000 has been obtained to date. Several of the tags have shown interesting results. In fact, a tag deployed at Barbate was detected in the Greenland Sea at 75.123°N 1.095°E, the most northerly reported position for bluefin tuna; another tag deployed in Barbate popped up at 20.269°N 29.673°W, closed to the southern limit of the eastern Atlantic stock; the results of three of the tags deployed in the area of Bocche di Bonifacio suggested that this may be a feeding area: two of them popped up in the same area after 180 and 240 days respectively, while a third tag was recovered from a fish recaptured in the same area after 65 days at liberty. Furthermore, the possible causes of the low rate of tag return are discussed.