Researchers left for their second trip to the
The tagging is conducted by CSIRO scientists for the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT).
In late December the first trip saw 4500 southern bluefin tuna tagged, which is more than the same time last year.
CCSBT executive secretary Brian McDonald said on the current trip on board Australian Fishing Enterprises’ vessel Emma J the researchers had enough tags for 5500 fish - to tag a total of 10,000.
Thirty-five tuna will be tagged with archival tags that are able to record different data including temperature inside and outside the fish, the depth, where it was, and how it swam.
The scientific research program began in 2001 with the first tuna tagged in January 2002 to gain information on stock assessment of how many fish are around, the size and age of the fish, and when and where they were captured.
â€Tagging is very very important,†Mr. McDonald said.
â€We are trying to tag one year olds, two year olds and three year olds.â€
This is the final year for the project, however a meeting will be held in
Mr. McDonald said the program was seen as vital to at this time with the general view being there were very low fish levels.
He said while there had been a lot of fish tagged it did not mean there were any more than in previous years, similarly if only 1000 fish had been tagged it would not mean there were any less.
He said the amount of tuna found is heavily dependent on the weather.
The tags are returned to the CCSBT to collect the data and there are incentives for fishers to return the tags.
Returns of the conventional tags found in tuna are eligible for a free CCSBT cap, shirt, bag and other merchandise or cash.