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STRIPED BASS AND SATELLITES
Roxanne Willmer, Gray FishTag Research
Editor’s Note: The Fisheries Conservation Trust is overseen by the Recreational Fishing Alliance. It underwrites two highly regarded fishing tournaments—the Buccaneer Cup Sailfish Tournament, now in its 59th year and the Manhattan Cup Striped Bass Tournament which celebrates its 21st year this coming June—as fundraising instruments but also because they promote conservation. Several years ago, the FTC was made aware of the Gray FishTag Research (GFR) program and started working with the fledgling organization. More recently funds from the Manhattan Cup have been donated to Gray to help further a unique program that involves tagging mature striped bass from both the Hudson and Chesapeake stocks with archival satellite trackers in an effort to learn more about their migratory habits. The early results have shocked the scientific community. The following article, written by Roxanne Willmer, the head of GFR, explains more about the program and also includes tracking data from some of the fish the RFA/FTC donations have helped implant with these expensive electronic tags. We hope you’ll enjoy learning more about them and the program. Gray FishTag Research’s (GFR) groundbreaking Northeast Striped Bass research efforts began in 2019. On May 21, 2019, our GFR team in conjunction with The Fisherman Magazine and Navionics traveled to New York City to catch, satellite tag and release two qualifying candidates to carry the Wildlife Computers MiniPAT pop-off satellite tags. The first fish was a 34-inch Striped Bass named “Liberty” and the second Striped Bass tagged was named “Freedom”. With the astonishing results from the data collected in 2019, interest and financial contributions of many additional sponsors were received which allowed us to continue and expand our research studies. The 2020 Northeastern Striped Bass study looked different than originally planned. The Covid 19 pandemic hit New York and New Jersey with great force and our original planned expedition study scheduled for May 18th, 2020, was in jeopardy as waterways and charter boats were in mandatory closure. However, realizing the importance of the annual migration period and the desire to build on the remarkable results from last year, our study partners and GFR advisory board members, Mike Caruso, and Jim Hutchinson with The Fisherman Magazine, acted.
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On May 28, 2020, offshore Sandy Hook, New Jersey, a healthy 46-1/2-inch candidate named “Rona” was tagged and released. On June 3, 2020, offshore Sea Bright, New Jersey a 45-3/4-inch candidate named “Cora” was the second tag deployed. On July 3, 2020, offshore Montauk, New York, “Independence” measuring 46-1/2 inches offshore was successfully tagged. After months of planning and communications with our sponsors and captains, we landed in New Jersey with great anticipation to continue our research efforts for 2021. continued on page 6
Article Photo: This fish was tagged a couple weeks after the 20th Manhattan Cup in June of 2021 and made its way well offshore to the Hudson Canyon area and then north traveling a good thousand plus miles in the span of just a few months before the tag released and floated in to shore.