Occurrence, fate, and confounding influence of ghost passive integrated transponder tags in an intensively monitored watershed

Over the last three decades, passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags have been widely used to study fish populations. Interpretation of PIT tag detections, however, can be confounded by the presence of ghost tags, tags liberated when a fish dies. We used a combination of mobile antenna surveys, st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of fisheries and aquatic sciences 2019-02, Vol.76 (2), p.286-298
Main Authors: Bond, Rosealea M, Nicol, Colin L, Kiernan, Joseph D, Spence, Brian C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Accumulation
Analysis
Antenna arrays
Antennas
Antennas (Electronics)
Burial
Coastal waters
Drought
Fish
Fish populations
Fish tagging
Fishery research
Fishery surveys
Fishes
Freshwater
High flow
Hostages
Local movements
Methods
Migrations
Modelling
Natural mortality
Oncorhynchus kisutch
Polls & surveys
Population studies
Populations
Restocking
Salmon
Smolts
Stock assessment
Substrates
Surveys
Survival
Tagging
Tags
Transponders
Transport
Watersheds
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Summary:Over the last three decades, passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags have been widely used to study fish populations. Interpretation of PIT tag detections, however, can be confounded by the presence of ghost tags, tags liberated when a fish dies. We used a combination of mobile antenna surveys, stationary antenna detections, and multistate mark–recapture modeling to assess the abundance and fate of ghost tags in a coastal California watershed. Accumulation of ghost tags from released hatchery-origin coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) smolts was substantial during California’s recent drought, with 2224 ghost tags identified during mobile reader surveys. Between surveys, PIT tags moved downstream a median distance of 346 m and a maximum distance of 1982 m. Stationary antenna array detections indicated that these movements occurred during high-flow events, concurrent with live fish movement. The multistate model estimated that, during winter, approximately 40% of tags were buried in the substrate beyond the read range of mobile readers. Failure to account for transport and burial dynamics of ghost tags can lead to biased estimates of fish abundance, survival, and movement.
ISSN:0706-652X
1205-7533
DOI:10.1139/cjfas-2017-0409