The Regional Committee on Marking and Tagging (RCMT) is a technical committee that evaluates regional marking proposals and coordinates coastwide agreements on marking salmonid stocks. Its function is to ensure the integrity of the stock identification information provided by marking, sampling, and data exchange programs, for its use in stock assessment, harvest management, and enhancement evaluation.

With the current role of CWT in stock assessments conducted by Pacific Salmon Commission technical committees, special emphasis has been placed on the coordination and maintenance of the coastwide CWT program.

Responsibilities

  • Coordinate the coastwide CWT marking program, in collaboration with Pacific Salmon Commission technical committees.  
  • Establish regional agreements and coordination of marking and recovery techniques for stock identification of anadromous salmonids. 
  • Review all marking and tagging proposals that do not have international ramifications, and determine if the proposal is acceptable as presented, requires modification, or must be denied due to its technical impacts. 
  • Provide technical review and recommendations to the proposing agency, affected agencies, and the Pacific Salmon Commission for all marking and tagging proposals with international impacts, when requested.
  • Provide data management consultation and related technical advice to the Pacific Salmon Commission’s technical committees (i.e., Selective Fishery Evaluation Committee, Chinook Technical Committee, Coho Technical Committee, Technical Committee on Data Sharing, and Working Group on Data Standards).
  • Establish priorities and coordinate plans to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and timeliness of data acquisition and delivery.
  • Promote the development and implementation of coastwide data collection and reporting standards to facilitate the CWT and catch/sample data exchanges.
  • Advance knowledge of marking and recovery technology, research and development. 
  • Provide oversight and guidance to the Regional Mark Coordinator in serving as chairperson of the RCMT and in carrying out duties as Regional Mark Processing Center’s Program Manager.
  • Establish ad hoc committees or subcommittees as needed to address specific issues.

Interactions with the Pacific Salmon Commission

The Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) has the lead role in evaluating proposals for adipose mass marking and selective fisheries when there are impacts on PSC CWT indicator stocks and/or mark sampling programs or on the information they provide.

The RCMT can provide technical review and recommendations to the Pacific Salmon Commission for all marking and tagging proposals with international impacts.

Interactions with the Regional Mark Processing Center

The RCMT also provides technical guidance to PSMFC for management of the Regional Mark Processing Center.

PSMFC is responsible for management, day to day supervision, and administrative support of the Regional Mark Processing Center.

Meetings

The RCMT meets at least annually on a rotational basis by state/province to facilitate coastwide coordination of anadromous salmonid marking and CWT programs. Marking proposals, proposed marking restrictions, and requests for exemptions/variances to marking agreements are presented, discussed, and if possible, agreed upon. 

Agency cooperation with marking agreements is voluntary, but fully expected of all agencies.

Whenever possible, agreements are reached by full consensus, which is defined as a decision that is reached unanimously with no formal objections. When full consensus is not possible, agreements are reached by majority vote, which requires a quorum of 75% (a minimum of 9) of the RCMT members or their proxies..

Next RCMT Meeting

Tuesday, April 22nd to Thursday, April 24th, 2025

Hosted by CDFW
3637 Westwind Blvd Santa Rosa, CA 95403

In-person and virtual

Tuesday April 22nd: 9:00am to 4:00pm

Wednesday April 23rd: 9:00am to 4:00pm

Thursday April 24th: 9:00am to noon

Agenda

See document table below for agenda and remote participation information

Members and Chair

The RCMT is represented either directly or indirectly by all coded wire tagging and/or recovery agencies and tribes on the Pacific coast, and includes twelve voting members. 

The Regional Mark Processing Center’s Program Manager serves as chairperson of the RCMT, as well as serving as the Regional Mark Coordinator.

Topic Specific Documents

Documents requested by the RCMT members are accessible below and on the Coded Wire Tag webpage.

Current Voting Members

Canada

  • Kathy Fraser, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, DFO  (1 voting member)

United States

  • Dave Reggiani, Metlakatla Indian Community, MIC, representing 1 tribe in S.E. Alaska
  • Ashley Shaffer, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, NWIFC, representing 20 Treaty Tribes of western Washington
  • Marianne McClure, Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, CRITFC, representing 4 Treaty Tribes in the Columbia River Basin
  • Caroline Lawrence, National Marine Fisheries Service, NMFS
  • Ben Cross, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USFWS
  • Dion Oxman, Alaska Department of Fish and Game. ADFG
  • Jason Azat, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, CDFW
  • Brian Leth, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, IDFG
  • Trevor Clark. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, ODFW
  • Jillian Cady, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, WDFW

Coordinating Agency

Nancy Leonard, Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission

Committee Documents

Please note, that within all pre-2023 the meeting minutes documents all links beginning with https://www.rmpc.org/files/mark-mtg-  no longer function as these documents are now in the associated zipped meeting material below.

FileDescriptionMeeting DatesFile Date
CWT Lab Guide PostersThis zip file contains the CWT Extraction Quick Guide Lab poster, which serves as a supplement to the CWT Extraction Lab Document. The zip file contains a manual extraction and a coring guide, each with 11x17, 18x24, and 24x36 sized colored posters.Nov 2024
Final BMP CWT Lab Guide_Oct2024The Coded Wire Tag (CWT) Extraction Lab Guide is a resource for new CWT labs, personal and to be used to help with consistency and quality of data among CWT labs.Oct 2024
2024 RCMT Meeting NotesOfficial meeting minutes from the 2024 RCMT annual meetingMay 20242024
Request for Use of Non-CWT Wire Form (2023 version)This form is to provide information when requesting the use of non-coded wire tag (CWT) wires for marking fish. This form is to be submitted to the Regional Committee on Marking and Tagging for review. The information is necessary to assess impacts of the marking variance to the coastwide coded wire tag (CWT) program.   This form replaced the previously named form: Request for Marking Variance (last updated 2022)2023
2024 RCMT Annual Meeting AgendaAgenda for the 2024 RCMT annual meetingMay 20242024
Coded-Wire Tag Sampling: The Case for Electronic-Field DetectionMany CWT sampling programs of commercial fisheries have transitioned to electronic-field detection, while others are still visual-field only, examining snouts from all adipose-clipped salmon, even those without CWTs. Because some CWT salmon are released from hatcheries without any external marks, visual-field only programs also fail to sample these CWTs. In 2012, we used electronic tag detection at a processing plant in Kodiak, Alaska, to scan Chinook salmon caught as bycatch in the US North Pacific groundfish fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska. Electronic-field detection increased CWT recovery rates over visual-field detection of adipose-clipped Chinook salmon, and an estimated 64–74% of adipose-clipped Chinook salmon sampled had no CWTs. Visual-field only CWT sampling programs may unnecessarily process large numbers of untagged, adipose-clipped salmon while also recovering fewer CWTs than comparable electronic sampling programs.May 20242024
All Agency Update 20242024 All Agency update for the 2024 Annual MeetingMay 20242024
RCMT 2000 Meeting MinutesOfficial meeting minutes from 2000 annual RCMT meeting2000
RCMT 1999 Meeting MinutesOfficial meeting minutes from 1999 RCMT annual meeting1999
RCMT 1998 Meeting MinutesOfficial meeting minutes from 1998 RCMT annual meeting1998
RCMT 1997 Meeting MinutesOfficial meeting minutes from 1997 RCMT annual meeting1997
RCMT 1999 Meeting AgendaOfficial meeting agenda from 1999 RCMT annual meeting1999
RCMT 1996 Meeting MinutesOfficial meeting minutes from 1996 RCMT annual meeting1996
RCMT 1996 Meeting AgendaOfficial meeting agenda from 1996 RCMT annual meeting1996
RCMT 1995 Meeting MinutesOfficial meeting minutes from 1995 RCMT annual meeting1995
RCMT 1995 Meeting AgendaOfficial meeting agenda from 1995 RCMT annual meeting1995
RCMT 1994 Meeting MinutesOfficial meeting minutes from 1994 RCMT annual meeting1994
RCMT 1994 Meeting AgendaOfficial meeting agenda from 1994 RCMT annual meeting1994
RCMT 1993 Meeting MinutesOfficial meeting minutes from 1993 RCMT annual meeting1993
RCMT 1992 Meeting MinutesOfficial meeting minutes from 1992 RCMT annual meeting1992
RCMT 1986 Meeting MinutesOfficial 1986 meeting minutes from annual RCMT meeting1986
RCMT 1987 Meeting MinutesOfficial meeting minutes from 1987 RCMT annual meeting1987
RCMT 1991 Meeting MinutesOfficial meeting minutes from 1991 RCMT annual meeting1990
RCMT 1990 Meeting MinutesOfficial meeting minutes from 1990 RCMT annual meeting1990
RCMT 1985 Meeting MinutesRCMT meeting minutes from the 1985 annual meeting1985
RCMT 1985 Meeting AgendaMeeting agenda from 1985 RCMT annual meeting1985
RCMT 1984 Meeting MinutesMeeting minutes from 1984 RCMT annual meeting1984
RCMT 1984 Meeting MaterialsMeeting materials from 1984 RCMT annual meeting1984
RCMT 1984 Meeting AgendaMeeting Agenda from the 1984 RCMT annual meeting1984
RCMT 1983 Meeting MinutesThe meeting minutes from the 1983 RCMT annual meeting1983
RCMT 1983 Meeting AgendaMeeting agenda from the 1983 RCMT annual meeting1983
RCMT 1982 Meeting AgendaMeeting agenda from the 1982 RCMT annual meeting1982
1983 Policy for Marking Harvestable Steelhead Stocks in the Columbia BasinHistorical document on the final agreement on desequestering the adipose fin clip on Columbia Basin steelhead in order that the mark can be used to identify harvestable stock1983
RCMT Meeting Minutes 2023Official meeting minutes from the 2023 RCMT annual meetingApril 20232023
RCMT 2023 Meeting MaterialsMeeting documents for the 2023 RCMT annual meetingApril 20232023
April 2023 RMPC Annual Meeting Slides Day1Main slide deck for day 1 of the 2023 RCMT annual meetingApril 20232023
April 2023 RMPC Annual Meeting Slides Day2Main slide deck for day 2 of the 2023 RCMT annual meeting2023
RCMT 2023 Meeting AgendaMeeting agenda from the 2023 RCMT annual meetingApril 20232023
2023 All Agency UpdateAll agency update from the 2023 RCMT annual meetingApril 20232023
RCMT 2008 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2008 meeting Materials, including presentations.April 20082008
RCMT_2008_Meeting_Materals2008
RCMT 2022 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2022 meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting held Virtually on MS-Teams. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20222022
RCMT 2022 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2022 meeting Materials, including presentations.April 20222022
RCMT 2022 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2022 meeting Agenda.April 20222022
RCMT 2021 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2021 meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting held Virtually on MS-Teams. See note about embedded links at top of document table.May 20212021
RCMT 2021 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2021 meeting Materials, including presentations.May 20212021
RCMT 2021 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2021 meeting Agenda.May 20212021
RCMT 2019 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2019 meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting held in Astoria, Oregon. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20192019
RCMT 2019 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2019 meeting Materials, including presentations.April 20192019
RCMT 2019 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2019 meeting Agenda.April 20192019
RCMT 2018 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2018 meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting held in Friday Harbor, Washington. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20182018
RCMT 2018 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2018 meeting Materials, including presentations.April 20182018
RCMT 2018 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2018 meeting Agenda.April 20182018
RCMT 2010 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2010 meeting Materials, including presentations.April 20102010
RCMT 2017 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2017 meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting held in Vancouver, British Columbia. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20172017
RCMT 2017 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2017 meeting Materials, including presentations.April 20172017
RCMT 2017 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2017 meeting Agenda.April 20172017
RCMT 2016 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2016 meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting held in Boise, Idaho. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20162016
RCMT 2016 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2016 meeting Materials, including presentations.April 20162016
RCMT 2016 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2016 meeting Agenda.April 20162016
RCMT 2015 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2015 meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting held in Juneau, Alaska. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20152015
RCMT 2015 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2015 meeting Materials, including presentations.April 20152015
RCMT 2015 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2015 meeting Agenda.April 20152015
RCMT 2014 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2014 meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting held in Santa Cruz, California. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20142014
RCMT 2014 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2014 meeting Materials, including presentations.April 20142014
RCMT 2014 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2014 meeting Agenda.April 20142014
RCMT 2013 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2013 meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting held in Troutdale, Oregon. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20132013
RCMT 2013 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2013 meeting Materials, including presentations.April 20132013
RCMT 2013 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2013 meeting Agenda.April 20132013
RCMT 2012 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2012 meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting held in Olympia, Washington. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20122012
RCMT 2012 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2012 meeting Materials, including presentations.2012
RCMT 2012 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2012 meeting Agenda.April 20122012
RCMT 2011 Meeting MinutesRCMT meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting in Victoria, British Columbia. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20112011
RCMT 2011 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2011 meeting Materials, including presentations.April 20112011
RCMT 2011 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2011 meeting Agenda.April 20112011
RCMT 2010 Meeting MinutesRCMT meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting held in Boise, Idaho See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20102010
RCMT 2010 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2010 meeting Agenda.April 20102010
RCMT 2009 Meeting MinutesRCMT meeting Minutes, includes tagging plans, meeting held in Metlakatla, Alaska. See note about embedded links at top of document table.May 20092009
RCMT 2009 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2009 meeting Materials, including presentations.May 20092009
RCMT 2009 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2009 meeting Agenda.May 20092009
RCMT 2008 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2008 meeting Minutes, meeting held in Pacific Grove, California. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20082008
RCMT 2008 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2008 meeting Agenda.April 20082008
RCMT 2007 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2007 meeting Minutes, meeting held in Warm Springs, Oregon. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20072007
RCMT 2007 Meeting MaterialsRCMT 2007 meeting Materials, including presentations and tagging plans.April 20072007
RCMT 2007 Meeting AgendaRCMT 2007 meeting Agenda.April 20072007
RCMT 2006 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2006 meeting Agenda & Minutes, meeting held in Port Angeles, Washington. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20062006
RCMT 2005 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2005 meeting Agenda & Minutes, meeting held in Tofino, British Columbia. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20052005
RCMT 2004 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2004 meeting Agenda & Minutes, meeting held in Lewiston, Idaho. See note about embedded links at top of document table.May 20042004
RCMT 2003 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2003 meeting Agenda & Minutes, meeting held in Sitka, Alaska. See note about embedded links at top of document table.May 20032003
RCMT 2002 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2002 meeting Minutes, meeting held in Pacific Grove, California (Agenda Unavailable). See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20022002
RCMT 2001 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2001 meeting Agenda & Minutes, meeting held in Newport, Oregon. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20012001
RCMT 2000 Meeting MinutesRCMT 2000 meeting Agenda & Minutes, meeting held in Silverdale, Washington. See note about embedded links at top of document table.April 20002000
Regional Coordination and Agreements on Marking and Tagging Pacific Coast Salmonids (2011)The Regional Committee on Marking and Tagging objective, interaction with Regional Mark Processing Center, membership, operating procedures, current use of coded wire tags, fin clips, current use of non-coded wire tag related marking, and coordination of new marking (variances) requests.  This is the updated version of the 2001 document.2011
Regional Coordination and Agreements on Marking and Tagging Pacific Coast Salmonids (2001 version)The Regional Committee on Marking and Tagging objective, interaction with Regional Mark Processing Center, membership, operating procedures, current use of coded wire tags, fin clips, current use of non-coded wire tag related marking, and coordination of new marking (variances) requests.  Document updated 2001 (newer version available).2001
Information Content and Data Standards for a Coastwide Coded-Wire Tag Database Report TCDS (89)-1REPORT TCDS (89) - 1 INFORMATION CONTENT AND DATA STANDARDS FOR A COASTWIDE CODED-WIRE TAG DATABASE (published July 12, 1989) "Blue Book" Produced by: PACIFIC SALMON COMMISSION JOINT TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON DATA SHARING JOINT WORKING GROUP ON MARK RECOVERY DATABASES1989
Specifications and Definitions for the Exchange of Coded Wire Tag Data for the North American Pacific Coast, PSC Format version 4.1CWT data submitted to RMIS must be exchanged in the form of a PSC Format Version 4.1 dataset. The definition and specification of PSC Format Version 4.1 is described in this document.2022