December 18, 2020, by admin

Just like a puppy gets a tracker inserted into its shoulder, our salmon fry get tagged as well! At the hatchery, we are interested in learning about how many of fish grow up to be caught by fishing boats, so we use a coded wire tag program to keep track of the salmon.

We also clip the adipose fin on the fry, because it isn’t necessary for the salmon to thrive, and tells us if the fish has a tracker in its nose. When we spawn the coho adults, we will send the fish with clipped adipose fins away to be identified.

Click here to watch a video about the coho tagging process from SSSC staff members Haley, Paul and Sandy. Then try solving some math problems related to this process from the worksheet below.