Tagging and Tracking Large Fish Along the PNW Coast

A Navy-funded project is currently monitoring Pacific Salmon along the coasts of Oregon and Washington, using specialized tracking technology to better understand fish movements in near-real time. This effort, led by Dr. Taylor Chapple of Oregon State University, is part of the Marine Species Monitoring initiative, supported by the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet.

While separate from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) cruises, this project takes advantage of OOI’s Endurance Array moorings by placing Vemco VR2C tag readers on select moorings to detect and track tagged fish. The collected data provides valuable insights that could benefit commercial fishers, marine conservation efforts, and naval operations.

Tracking Salmon in Real-Time

As part of this initiative, researchers are tagging Pacific Salmon and tracking their movements using Vemco VR2C tag readers. These specialized instruments have been deployed on three OOI Endurance Array moorings: the Oregon Inshore Surface Mooring (CE01ISSM), the Washington Inshore Surface Mooring (CE06ISSM), and the Washington Shelf Surface Mooring (CE07SHSM).

When a tagged fish approaches one of these moorings, the tag reader records the encounter and transmits the data to shore within hours. This near-real-time data can be useful for commercial fishers, military operations, and other maritime stakeholders operating in the Pacific Northwest.

Expanding the Scope: Tracking Other Marine Life

Beyond salmon, the tag readers detect other marine species that have been tagged through separate research projects. These include sharks tagged from California to Alaska, sturgeon, other large fish, and even Dungeness crabs. The data collected from these detections is shared through OOI’s raw data server, contributing to a growing body of research on marine life movements in the region.

Data Access

To make the data easily available, each mooring with a tag reader generates a CSV file whenever it transmits data. These files have been combined into larger datasets, organized by mooring deployment, allowing researchers to analyze fish migration patterns and ecosystem dynamics.

By using OOI’s moorings for data collection, this project enhances our understanding of large fish movements along the Pacific Northwest coast, demonstrating the value of integrated ocean monitoring and advanced tagging technology.

To learn more and access the full dataset, visit the Tagging and Tracking of Large Fish Along the PNW Coast webpage.