Fisheries
The Weetag have been developed specifically for fisheries research following years of experimenting with different shapes and mounting methods. All mounting methods can be used with these new models, internally, externally on the dorsal fin and by gastric implant.
The first use of the iBCod was for tagging over a thousand adult cods in the Gulf of St-Laurence. Over 100 tags were recovered within a two year period. Several versions of iButton based tags, iBKrill and iBBass, were used for smolt studies and monitoring water temperature in lakes and rivers. These loggers are now replaced by the Weetags which incorporate more memory and depth measurements.
Both internal and external installation methods can used with the
Weetags and
iBCods. Obviously,
the smaller fish like smolt are tagged externally with the
Weetag Lite or
Slim for depth
measurement. Larger fish such as adult cod and salmon can be tagged
either internally or externally with the
iBCod or
Weetag RF Slim or
WeeCod.
 Previous version of the iBKrill fixed externally on the back of a smolt with stainless steel wire. Photo courtesy of DFO Canada. |
Two small diameter holes are located on each ends of the data loggers
to pass a stainless steel wire or nickel pins. It is very important that
the logger should be mounted very rigidly on the back of the fish near
the dorsal fin to prevent any movement that will wear the skin.
The external method was used for the adult cod in the St-Laurence Gulf
with very good results. Nickel pins from Floy Tags with backing disks
were used to fix rigidly the logger on the fish.
Another interesting method as shown below, is to attach a small plastic
disk to the logger with epoxy. A nickel pin is passed through the disk
before being glued to the iBBass. With this method, only one pin has to
be fixed on the fish.
Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Arcata Ca
| Some tags have been implanted in the abdominal cavity of fish. In this case, it is preferable not to have any mounting holes in the logger. It is also possible to have only one mounting hole to fix a spaghetti tag that will stick out of the fish. |
 Internal tagging with a previous version of iButton tags (Photo courtesy of the Institute of the Marine Research Institute, Norway) |