Fishermen Win Big in Tagging Program Drawing

A tagged speckled trout. The thin yellow band extending out from its abdomen is the tag. Source: Stephen Mehan, NC Department of Environmental Quality
A tagged speckled trout. The thin yellow band extending out from its abdomen is the tag. Source: Stephen Mehan, NC Department of Environmental Quality

Fifteen lucky fishermen won $100 each in a recent North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries’ Multi-Species Tagging Program yearly drawing.

Information gathered from tag returns allows researchers to determine species migration patterns, mortality, population structure and habitat use.

The tagging program randomly selected tag numbers from the more than 1,011 fish tags that were turned in by fishermen in 2017. Three tag numbers were selected from each of the five species that are tagged by the program.

The $100 winners who turned in tags from cobia were:

  • Joshua Hall of Durham NC
  • Austin Cooper of Wake, Virginia
  • William Glenn of Culpeper, Virginia

The $100 winners who turned in tags from red drum were:

  • Clara Faye Tyson of Morehead City NC
  • David Weighbright of Kitty Hawk NC
  • Alan Johnson of Jacksonville NC

The $100 winners who turned in tags for striped bass were:

  • James Holloway of Trent Woods NC
  • Paul Morton of Wendell NC
  • Joseph Kinsey of Atlantic Beach NC

The $100 winners who turned in tags for southern flounder were:

  • Dominic Vetrano of Arapahoe NC
  • Aron Styron III of Cedar Island NC
  • Donald McCall of Greenville SC

The $100 winners who turned in tags from spotted seatrout were:

  • Nathan Tanner of Camden NC
  • Leavy Vicars of Winterville NC
  • Michael Litchworth of Macclesfield NC

The Multi-Species Tagging Program began in October 2014 and is funded by a Coastal Recreational Fishing License grant. Staff and volunteers place yellow or red tags on 15,000 fish each year.

Fishermen who catch the tagged fish and return the tags with required information to the division receive a letter and personalized certificate with information about the fish, as well as a reward. Those who return a yellow tag marked with “NCDMF” receive either $5, a tagging program hat, fish towel, or fish pin. Those who return a red tag marked with “NCDMF” and “$100 REWARD” receive a $100 monetary reward.

Fishermen must record the species, tag number, date, location captured, total length of the fish, fate of the fish (released or harvested), and the type of gear used to capture the fish. Yellow tags may be reported by phone, but red tags must be cut-off and returned to the division for the fisherman to receive the reward.

For more information about the Multi-Species Tagging Program, visit portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf/tagged-fish.

The thin red band extending out from this fish' abdomen is the tag. Source: Stephen Mehan, NC Department of Environmental Quality
The thin red band extending out from this fish’ abdomen is the tag. Source: Stephen Mehan, NC Department of Environmental Quality

 

A member of the fish tagging team preparing to tag and release a fish. Source: Stephen Mehan, NC Department of Environmental Quality
A member of the fish tagging team preparing to tag and release a fish. Source: Stephen Mehan, NC Department of Environmental Quality

 

Source:  Patricia Smith, Division of Marine Fisheries

TGA Banner Ad
About Guest Author or Contributor 1430 Articles
Guest or one-time reporters, release authors, and anonymous article writers.