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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 60(4)

Retention of radio tags in golden perch (Macquaria ambigua), silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus) and carp (Cyprinus carpio)

J. P. O’Connor A C , J. D. Koehn A , S. J. Nicol A B , D. J. O’Mahony A and J. A. McKenzie A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Sustainability and Environment, 123 Brown Street, Heidelberg, Vic. 3084, Australia.

B Oceanic Fisheries Program, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, BP D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia.

C Corresponding author. Email: justin.o’connor@dse.vic.gov.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 60(4) 334-340 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF08170
Submitted: 1 June 2008  Accepted: 3 December 2008   Published: 29 April 2009

Abstract

Radio tagging and tracking are widely used to study freshwater fish; however, details of fish survival or tag retention rates are rarely reported. The results from five independent tagging trials associated with different tag attachment methods are reported in the present study. Implanted peritoneal cavity tags were trialled for two native Australia freshwater fish species (golden perch and silver perch) and introduced carp. Oesophageal and external tags were also trialled on silver perch. The results from the peritoneal cavity implantation trials in golden perch, silver perch and carp achieved an overall success rate of 81% (after 315 days), 18% (after 200 days) and 43% (after 323 days) respectively. The external attachment of radio tags to silver perch had limited success with all fish either rejecting their tags or dying before 256 days. Silver perch trialled with oesophageal tags had an overall success rate of 25% after 200 days. The trials indicate that internal tagging is suitable for longer-term radio tracking of golden perch, but further developments are required for longer-term applications to silver perch and carp. Tag rejection rates are unlikely to be constant between species or through time and this variability should be incorporated into the study design to prevent bias.

Additional keywords: Australia, tagging trials, telemetry, threatened species.


Acknowledgements

We wish to thank everyone who supported this work: Murray-Darling Basin Commission, Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry Australia and Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research. Technical and field support were provided by John Mahoney, Peter Fairbrother, Justin O’Mahony, Terry Glenane and others. Many thanks to Fred and Joan Haebeck for the use of their ‘backyard’. We would like to thank Guest Editor Brendan Ebner, Jeremy Hindell and two anonymous referees for their valuable comments. This research was conducted under Victorian Fisheries Scientific Permit number FSP/CW/020(5), Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act Licence number F/1994/003, NSW Fisheries permit number F93/158 and animal ethics approval number 00/003.


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