Aquatic & Fisheries Underwater Tagging Equipment Star-Oddi.com

The UTE opens new fields in fish research, enabling researchers to tag deepwater species that have not been previously tagged and can not survive being brought to the surface. The UTE can tag fish at a depth of hundreds of meters. Recapture of tags released from the UTE is dependent on fisheries. The tags will help scientists to learn more about the behavior of various fish species and provide information on fish migration, distribution, feeding behavior, vertical and horizontal movements and stock assessment. Data from the tags will further provide valuable information for the management of fishery resources and help with decision making. Both electronic tags (measuring temperature and depth), and dummy tags can be used in the UTE.

During the development process a few experimental cruises were conducted, where the fish was surfaced after the tagging procedure by UTE to analyse the success of the tagging.

In October 2003 there was a successful tagging cruise, when 200 redfish were tagged at 500m depth in the Irminger Sea.  Here you can read more about the cruise. 

In June 2004, the Marine Research Institute (MRI) in Iceland, along with a team of experts from Star-Oddi, tagged 552 redfish at depths from 500m to 800m using the Underwater Tagging Equipment (UTE) made by Star-Oddi.

In June 2005 MRI were able to tag 1024 redfish during a successful cruise.  Of those, 49 fish were tagged with electronic tags DST micro, measuring depth and temperature.  Tagging depth was 500-800 m.

In August 2006 MRI tagged 646 redfish, of those 38 with electronic tags DST micro.

In July 2008 MRI tagged 336 redfish, of those15 with electronic tags DST micro.

The counter below shows the number of redfish that have been recaptured from the tagging cruises.

Counter
52 tagged redfish recaptured since the first cruise in October 2003

 

 

  

Usage 
 A vessel equipped with a fishing trawl with cable wire is required. The control unit* in the UTE is attached to the cable wire. The UTE is placed at the end of a fishing trawl and launched into the ocean. Fish in the trawl are diverted into the UTE where they are tagged and released. The researcher controls all tagging from a computer onboard that is linked via cable to the UTE. The UTE is equipped with underwater cameras, enabling the user to view (from different angles) on line video images from the UTE.
The UTE is developed in co-operation with the Marine Institute of Iceland, Grandi (a large fishery company in Iceland) and the Research Council of Iceland.

      

The tagging process:
1. When the fish is inside the trawl and approaches the equipment at the cod-end of the trawl, it is enclosed by a grid which diverts the fish into tagging place.  The fish is viewed through the onboard video camera, and the tagging gun is moved into position.
2. A knife makes a small incision into the skin of the fish for the DST tag to be implanted, when the tag is inside the fish a small hose hangs outside to allow for identification.
3. After tagging the fish it is released through a channel in the device and out into open water.  Each fish can be tagged in just a few seconds, much quicker than existing methods. The operation is controlled by a scientist sitting at a computer onboard the vessel.  He or she is able to see the fish on-line through the installed camera and operate the device via cable wire.  The only requirement for the vessel is that it is equipped with a standard trawl and a cable wire.

Download material:
A PDF file with photos and information (2 Mb) 
View a video of the UTE in the ocean (1,3 Mb)
Inside the trawl (2 Mb)

Published Scientific Papers on UTE:
Article in Marine Scientist-March 2008
ICES paper 2006
ICES poster 2004
EEZ International 2004