Tagged Copper River salmon: what to watch for and what to do.

If you catch a Copper River king or red salmon that has a radio tag you have caught a fish that is a part of an important research project conducted by the ADF&G and the Native Village of Eyak! Here is what to do:

If you keep a king or red salmon that has a radio tag please return the radio tag to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Glennallen. Tags can be returned in person or mailed to the office: P.O. Box 47 Glennallen, AK 99588

• Tagged King salmon are part of a research project to determine the run timing and spawning distribution of fish throughout the Copper River drainage.
• Tagged red salmon are part of a large-scale energetics study.

The radio tags are not visible while looking at a fish (they are implanted in the esophagus of fish), but a wire antenna will be protruding from the mouth. The antenna is a small diameter wire and 6-12 inches of it will be visible.

• All Radiotagged king salmon will have a yellow tag on their back, but not all king salmon with a yellow tag will have a radio tag.
• Radiotagged red salmon will not have tags on their backs, but they will be marked with a small hole in their left operculum (gill plate).
• All fish are being radiotagged in Baird Canyon located several miles above Miles Lake in the lower Copper River.

If you do keep a radiotagged salmon, please return the radio tag as soon as possible so we can redeploy the tag in another fish this year.

For more info, please contact the ADF&G office in Glennallen at (907) 822-3309.

Science and Memory: Baird Canyon by Kylie Juggert.