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[fishseeker]

Fishing the Squamish yesterday I pulled in a chum with two really unusual implants on its body.   I took a photo but, unfortunately, I have no way to host the photo for display here so I will just have to describe it.

Looking from above the implants appeared as two red dots on either side of the dorsal fin each dot about 1cm in diameter.   They looked like plastic implants that had been embedded right into the fishes body.   I don't believe this could have been done when it was still a smolt so it must have been done when it had reached some size already.

Anybody know what this is?  My thinking is it must be something the DFO put there for tracking purposes.

[bkk]

There is a chum population study going on in the Cheakamus system and those are called Peterson tags. Fish are captured as adults, a numbered tag is attached just below the dorsal fin and then the fish is released back to the water. When the fish spawn and die, a crew looks for and counts the number of dead of both tagged and untagged fish. You then get a ratio of tagged vrs. untagged. If you know how many tags you have on ( which they do) then you can come up with a population estimate. This program has been ongoing for a few years now and is funded by BC Hydro as part of the Cheakamus River Water Use Plan and the work is being done by Instream Consultants.

[fishseeker]

Great answer, thank you bkk.   I assume they are tagging them in the Squamish river, correct?

[bkk]

   I assume they are tagging them in the Squamish river, correct?

Actually they are being tagged in the Cheakamus. If they are in found anywhere else then that means that they have dropped out of the Cheakamus. Evidently there is a function that allows this to be factored into the Cheakamus Chum population study

[BCLAX]

I found one chum carcass with a tag on the Lower Squamish. It was a orange circular tag bellow the dorsal with a 3 or 5 digit #, would have taken a picture but didn't have the camera on me.

[Dave]

Great answer, thank you bkk.   

X2

[bkk]

Here is a link to some of the chum escapement reports that are submitted to BC Hydro.

https://www.bchydro.com/about/sustainability/conservation/water_use_planning/lower_mainland/cheakamus.html

I personally would take the population estimates with a grain of salt as I feel that they are just a tad bit optimistic but that is me.

[Knnn]

I saw three different fish with those tags on the Cheakamus on Saturday.  Seems to be a lot about.  Either that or one fish was was all over the place.

[Ian Forbes]

I pulled my chum from the river and she has artificial implants, but Rod won't let me post pictures.

[Rodney]

I pulled my chum from the river and she has artificial implants, but Rod won't let me post pictures.

Best to keep those on flybc Ian, this forum is popular among juveniles and "juveniles", not sure they can handle the adult content...