Why does DFG attach tags to fish?
Biologists tag fish for many reasons, including: • To follow fish movement over time and to ascertain migration patterns. • To discover habitat preferences for fish at different ages, or reproductive stage. • To determine how fast fish grow. • To get information on fish mortality and population size. Each species has a unique life history so researchers must tag individuals of the species in which they are interested. Since the return rate for most fish tagging projects is 5% or less, many fish must be tagged in order to gather meaningful information.
