GTranslate

en English sm Samoan

Tagging 2019

Help us to find out how tuna age and how fast they grow, and win USD 100!

Since 2006, the Pacific Tuna Tagging Programme (PTTP), endorsed by the

Western and Central Pacific Fishery Commission and implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC), has been organising fish tagging events

annually. On this year’s pole-and-line tagging cruise through the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), tunas labelled with conventional white tags also received an injection of strontium chloride (SrCl2) to validate the deposition rate of the increments (often called growth rings) that are observed and counted in fish otoliths to estimate fish age and growth.

Otoliths are small ’ear stones’, calcium carbonate structures located on either side of the head. They allow fish to find their balance and perceive linear acceleration, both horizontally and vertically. As otoliths grow, they incorporate chemical ‘markers’ from the water (such as calcium, strontium, and other elements and stable isotopes), the concentrations of these markers reflecting both the environment the fish swims through, and intrinsic processes like physiology and metabolism. Once a marker is incorporated into a growth ring, it remains there permanently, providing a time-stamped chemical record of the fish’s experience. By counting the growth rings on otoliths, scientists can estimate the age of a fish; however, the periodicity of ring formation needs to be validated. The external application of chemical markers during tagging events has proved a useful method in this regard.

Strontium chloride (SrCl2) and oxytetracycline (OCT) markers have been widely used to validate increment formation in tunas (Wild and Foreman 1980; Wild et al. 1995; Wexler 1993; Clear et al. 2000). SrCl2is often preferred over OCT because of public health concerns; the US Federal Drug Administration prohibits the use of OCT in wild fisheries, whereas SrCl2 is a mineral occurring naturally in seawater, and is regarded as safe for human consumption (Sax and Lewis 1987). SrCl2 is even used in toothpaste to reduce dental hypersensitivity! Importantly, both Sr and Cl are present naturally within otoliths, and previous studies using SrCl2 for mark-recapture experiments on tuna have shown that SrCl2 did not induce mortality (e.g. Clear and al. 2000).

Prior the tagging cruise, SrCl2 solution was prepared at SPC’s laboratory. On-board the tagging vessel, the injection procedure is very rapid. Following capture, the fish is placed on a tagging cradle and the scientists use a self-filling dosing syringe designed for continuous injection. To identify fish that have been injected with SrCl2, a white tag is placed behind the second dorsal fin. After injection in the muscle, the SrCl2 is then metabolised and incorporated into the otolith structure. The strontium readily substitutes for the calcium in the otolith matrix, and the SrCl2 injection leaves a distinct mark on the otoliths that is clearly visible under a scanning electron microscope (SEM). When a marked fish is recaptured, and knowing its time at liberty, the number of increments counted on the otolith after the mark can then be compared to the number of days since the fish was tagged, providing a validated increment deposition rate. This information that can then be used to age other fish of the same species, providing crucial data on age structure of tuna populations necessary to accurately estimate stock status through the assessment models.

As of the end of August 2019, a total of 215 skipjack and yellowfin tuna have been injected with SrCl2, and SPC is aiming to tag 1000 fish. To be able to extract and analyse otoliths from tagged and re-captured fish, SPC scientists will need whole fish. This also allows scientists the opportunity to collect other biological samples: the stomach, the liver, the gonads and the dorsal spine. A full set of analyses can be undertaken on the same fish, for example, measurement of mercury and/or isotope concentrations, stomach content and genetic analyses. To preserve the quality of the samples, following capture aboard purse seine and freezer longline vessels, SrCl2 injected fish must be kept frozen at all times, whereas fish from ‘fresh’ longliners can be sampled upon arrival at port. Since 2009, biological sampling training including otolith extraction has been provided by SPC, and in each major port samples can be collected by observers, port samplers or fisheries officers.

If, by chance, you encounter a white tag on a tuna, please contact SPC directly for coordination. We need to maximise our chances of extracting as many sets of otoliths as possible. New posters are now available on www.spc.int/tagging and these are translated into several languages. The finder of a fish carrying a white tag will be rewarded USD 100. In addition, the fish will be bought from the longline fishing vessel or the cannery where it was found at a price of USD 10 per kilogramme (weight of the whole fish, not gilled and gutted). And, finally, on-board purse seine fishing vessel, observers will be rewarded USD 50 per fish to help in the coordination and the collection of samples.

Further information will be provided at the end of the tagging cruise. Stay tuned!

References

Sax N.I. and Lewis R.J. Sr. 1987. Hazardous chemicals desk reference. Van Nostrand Rienhold, New York, NY. 1084 p.

Clear N.P., Gunn J.S. and Rees T. 2000. Direct validation of annual increments in the otoliths of juvenile southern bluefin tuna, Thunnus maccoyii, by means of a large-scale mark-recapture experiment with strontium chloride. Fishery Bulletin 98 (1):25–40.

Wild A. and Foreman T.J. 1980. The relationship between otolith increments and time for yellowfin and skipjack tuna marked with tetracycline. Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission Bulletin 17(7):507–560.

Wild A., Wexler J.B. and Foreman T.J. 1995.Extended studies of increment deposition rates in otoliths of yellowfin and skipjack tunas. Bulletin of Marine Science 57(2): 555–562.

Wexler J.B. 1993Validation of daily growth increments and estimation of growth rates of larval and early-juvenile black skipjack, Euthynnuis lineatus, using otoliths. Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission Bulletin 20 (7):399–440.

 SPC Fisheries Newsletter #159 Sanchez C., MacDonald J., Leroy B. 

Search