Why tag cod with Data Storage Tags?
Conventional tagging with inert plastic tags is used to gather information on the growth rates, distribution, abundance, and migration patterns of cod populations in studies all over the world. However, conventional tags only give information about the behaviour of the fish at two points in time (release and recapture) and can be misleading. Electronic tags that can measure environmental variables such as depth and pressure vastly increase the amount of information about cod behaviour such as migration mechanisms, spawning patterns and feeding behaviour. It also helps to predict the effect of changes in the environment, such as global warming. Since 1995 about two thousand cod have been tagged with electronic Data Storage Tags and released by researchers working in Iceland, the Faeroes, Norway, Scotland and England.
