Automated Fish Tagging at Nimbus Fish Hatchery. Video showing the tagging & clipping process using an automated fish tagging trailer. Video Credit: Government Technology TV.
At the Bonneville Fish Hatchery in 2007 where hatchery employees gather and fertilize eggs. Video credit: RMPC / PSMFC.
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Fish Tagging
A manual tagging and marking trailer.
Inside a manual tagging and marking trailer.
Manual tagging head mold in use.
Manual marking crew at work clipping adipose fins. The fish are sedated prior to clipping to minimize stress.
Both automated and manual tagging and marking trailers at Marion Forks Hatchery. The automated trailer is the larger of the two shown.
Inside an automated tagging and marking trailer. Note that each line can efficiently perform marking and tagging in a continuous process.
Juvenile fish in an automated trailer tray waiting to be marked and tagged.
Close up of two lines and a sorter. Notice the tubes below the cabinet are used to go from the sorter to the various tag lines in the automated trailer.
Stream Sampling
Downstream migrant trap used for sampling juvenile salmon.
Beach seine used in river for sampling fish.
Another type of downstream migrant trap used in a creek.
A juvenile chum salmon being measured.
Chum spawning ground along the bank of the Columbia River.
A chum salmon identified during a spawning ground survey.
Commercial Sampling
A Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) employee holding a Chinook salmon ready for sampling.
A hand wand and freshly harvested Chinook salmon ready for wanding.
Determining the length to be recorded with the sample data. If a coded wire tag is present, the length will also be recorded for recovery data.
Determining the weight to be recorded with the sample data. If a coded wire tag is present, the weight will also be recorded for recovery data.
Wanding the snout section of the fish to determine if a coded wire tag was inserted by a hatchery before the salmon was released as a juvenile.
Scales are sometimes taken to determine age. DNA extracted from scales can also be used for genetic stock identification.
Sport Sampling
Sampler interviewing a sport angler using a handheld data logger.
Sampler interviewing a couple of sport anglers.
Sampler measuring lengths of salmon caught on the Columbia River.
Boat ramp on the Columbia River where samplers interview sport anglers.
Sampler interviewing a boat angler.
Sampler checking a salmon for a coded wire tag.
Goose nesting platform (with goose) and the sport fleet on the Columbia River.
Sport fleet on the Columbia River near the I-5 bridge
Sport fleet on the Columbia River near the Portland Airport.
Sport fleet on the Columbia River under the I-5 bridge.
Coded Wire Tag Recovery
A head lab employee begins quartering a recovered head containing a coded wire tag.
Each quarter of the head is scanned to determine which portion contains a coded wire tag.
Once the section with a coded wire tag is identified, the tag is extracted and placed in a plastic bag with the recovery information.
Each extracted tag is read under a microscope. The decoded number of the tag is added to the recovery information that came with the individual head.
RMPC Data Management
RMPC Program Manager (2022 - current)
Jim Longwill, RMPC Senior Analyst / Programmer (1988 - current)
Dan Webb, Analyst / Programmer (2000 - current)
Regional Mark Processing Center Team (2006-2021). In order left to right, Dan Webb, George Nandor and Jim Longwill.
A series of servers and a storage array provide the platform for the Coded Wire Tag database and the RMPC web site.
Hatchery
Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery (OR).
Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery Complex (OR).
Aerial view of the Coleman National Fish Hatchery (CA).
Aerial view of the Mokelumne River Hatchery (CA).
Aerial view of the Feather River Hatchery (CA).
Aerial view of Willamette River Hatchery (OR).
Kalama Falls State Salmon Hatchery (WA).
Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery (WA).
Cole M. Rivers Hatchery returns ready for spawning (OR).
Rock Creek Hatchery returns (OR).
Chief Joseph Hatchery (WA)
The final step of rearing could be a trip in a fish transport truck to a release site. Most fish are released at the hatchery in an adjacent stream.
Extracting eggs from an adult female using live spawning method.
Fertilizing eggs with an adult male.
Fertilized eggs are placed into trays to incubate
Many trays can be cared for together with a carefully managed water supply.
Another method of incubating eggs in baskets and troughs.
Eggs with viable embryos.
Once the fry stage is reached. The juveniles are transferred to troughs where they can swim and feed.
As the juveniles grow they are eventually transferred to raceways and ponds to continue growing until release.
Shading and protection from predators through the use of nets.