Fish tagging project on Green River helps students learn through Adopt-A-Trout Program

  Photo: Lucy Wold, WGFD

WGFD biologist John Walrath inserts radio tag into burbot at Firehole boat ramp

Contact: John Walrath or Lucy Wold 307-875-3223           December 6, 2015

Fish tagging project on Green River helps students learn through Adopt-A-Trout Program

GREEN RIVER-Don’t be alarmed if you are fishing Flaming Gorge Reservoir or the Green River and catch a burbot with a long, wire tail dangling from the fishes belly. You just caught a fish that is part of an important, local research project.

In April, fisheries biologists with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) and Trout Unlimited (TU) tagged brown trout and burbot in the Green River below Fontenelle Reservoir. In mid-November, 14 additional burbot were tagged in Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Biologist inserted radio tags into the fish and, by using a antenna and special receiver, they can relocate the radio tagged fish and determine their movement patterns and habitat preferences.

“The recent tagging effort is a continuation of a one-year project that started this spring, during which we tagged burbot and brown trout in the Green River,” said Green River Fisheries Biologist John Walrath. “The Flaming Gorge burbot were recently tagged to learn where and when they spawn in the Green River. We tagged 14 pre-spawn burbot in Flaming Gorge Reservoir that are likely to run the Green River this winter and spawn. We hope to discover a sort of “Achilles heel” in the life history of burbot that the Game and Fish and anglers can use to further reduce burbot numbers in local waters.”

Anglers are asked to please release any tagged trout they catch back in to the river as soon as possible. Angler assistance with this important fish study is very much appreciated. If an angler catches a burbot with a radio tag (antenna protruding from its belly) please turn the tag in at the Green River Office of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Biologists can reuse the tag by implanting it in a new fish.

This tagging project is part of a interesting and interactive school program developed by Wyoming Trout Unlimited called Adopt-A-Trout.

“This is a one-year project, in which we will tag and track over 50 fish to learn how they use the Green River and what habitats are important to the fish,” said Nick Walrath TU Green River Project Manager. “The project will also get local school children involved in their management through TU’s Adopt-A-Trout Program. Local school kids will adopt the tagged trout or burbot and track their movements through the year. TU has been conducting Adopt-A-Troup programs in Wyoming since 2007 and the program has been very well received because it gives students a real opportunity to assist with a hands-on scientific project in their own community. Students learn about the fish species and more about what fisheries biologists do to manage their local fishery.”

“We could not conduct this research project without the financial help from many businesses and organizations,” Walrath said. “Funding for this project was made possible thanks to Seedskadee Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Cowboy Bass of Wyoming’s B.AS.S. Federation Nation, Wyoming Wildlife Natural Resources Trust, FMC, OCI, Rocky Mountain Power and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.”

                                                              ~WGFD~

 

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