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1. ivi SALMOND E ANT SF ANCEMENT PROGRAM E age wir Fisheries and Oceans P ches et Oc ans mm x gt a ae di Sl ar e e RIT Fisheries P ches and Oceans et Oc ans TOWN PET Let A ARO eet AA mu me her Ve EW a N S es at de NV Ps O SE ACA MANUAL FOR CODED WIRE TAGGING AND FIN CLIPPING OF JUVENILE SALMONIDS AT ENHANCEMENT OPERATIONS FACILITIES July 1990 by T L Nichols and J E Hillaby Fisheries and Oceans Canada Pacific Region 555 West Hastings Street Vancouver B C V6B 563 2 Prepared under contract 90SB FP501 7 0060 A to Supply and Services Canada by Streamline Consulting Services Limited P O Box 880 Ladysmith B C VOR 2E0 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES e o LIST OF TABLES 2 2 ue ee LIST OF APPENDICES i a FOREWORD ee ew ee ee INTRODUCTION sss we FISHERY OBJECTIVES CODED WIRE TAGGING FISHERY OBJECTIVES FIN CLIPPING METHODOLOGY s s ss o we ws WHAT DO I NEED BEFORE I 1 PERSONNEL 0 gt 2 1 2 o Team Organization s gt Job Descriptions ss s 2 CONDITION OF FISH aaa 2 Water Temperature s s s Fish Sige s sis wo o el a ete Disease Treatment e
2. Frequency of Checks Count Checks s Visibility of the Ventral Determination of Good and Fin Regeneration MORTALITY s e s e s s se Acceptable Mortality Level Anaesthetic Mis use Deep Clips Poor Water Quality Other Factors SPEED AND EFFICIENCY STANDARDS DATA RECORDING sasse ice of the Anaesthetic o o o o ges e e 7 e u e e o gt 28 aa e gt o gt o e BE LOOKING FOR gt e gt Poor Adipose Clips oe Fin Clip Area Poor Ventral Clips gt a e gt gt gt TAGGING MACHINE TROUBLESHOOTING CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE Frequency of Cleaning Cleaning Procedure 25 25 26 26 26 27 30 31 31 31 34 35 35 38 38 38 38 40 40 40 40 41 41 41 42 43 44 44 44 45 45 46 47 48 49 49 49 2 3 4 iv TAG INJECTOR e e L e e e e Tag Injector Jamming ss sss e 0 Poor Wire Feed 5 a ec e dia a ee 4 No Power e Poor Cycling ee Head Mutilation es ew tw ew ew Improper Tag Length
3. Use fresh water for clipping basins if possible since clippers should avoid having their hands immersed in the anaesthetic Each clipper should have his her own recovery basin This basin should be large enough to hold 2 hours worth of clipped fish Conduct quality control checks on fin clips every 2 hours on each clipper by examining 10 fish from the previous 2 hour marking period Based on these 10 fish adjust the actual numbers clipped by that worker during that period 62 5 Examine anaesthetized clipped fish in a vial filled with water to provide a quick and easy test check on fin clip quality 6 All facilities currently fin clipping chum or pink salmon should adopt a good poor clip rating i e if the fin is not completely removed it should be discounted 100 Abandon the previously used system of clip zones or percent discounts 7 A count check is recommended to ensure that both the clipper and the counter are accurate This should be done for each clipper at least twice daily at random times CODED WIRE TAGGING AND FIN CLIPPING 1 Quality control checks should be shared between the marking supervisor whether contracted or not and the regular hatchery personnel 2 Consider assigning a specific hatchery staff member to conduct specific duties during marking such as conducting quality control checks monitoring anaesthetic strength and supplying fish to markers 3 Consider setting up an additional Headquarte
4. A rounding off effect is a sign of dull scissors which tend to slide off the fin as opposed to clipping through Clip is too deep and a large area of white flesh is showing Figure 5 Acceptable and unacceptable adipose fin clips 34 a very firm hold If the hand movement is incorrect the fish may wiggle at a critical clipping moment often resulting in a deep clip Ventral fin Ventral fin clipping is the most common marking alternative to adipose coded wire tagging The fish is held upside down in the palm of the left hand for a right handed person and supported with the thumb and first two fingers the thumb holding the head and the belly pointing out Other workers prefer to hold the fish with the fish s head held firmly by the thumb and first two fingers with the entire body of the fish from the gills down suspended in the air Either position can be used depending on the clipper When the fish is in position slide the scissors up the belly toward the fins separate the two fins and make the cut Note that in order to take off the left ventral fin the fin on the left upper side of the fish must be taken off since the fish is upside down It is surprising how many clippers forget this A good ventral clip involves clipping the fin at the joint where the fin articulates with the body so that the fin clipper can feel the crunch of scissors cutting the bone rather than the fleshy fin Conduct a clip check
5. After the initial cut slide the scissors back up to the fin and check that the entire ventral fin is cut off Often a strip of fin that is next to the centre line of the fish the button up line is difficult to remove and clip checking is worthwhile to ensure that this tail is cleanly cut off Adipose and ventral fins When clipping both the adipose and ventral fins some workers may clip the adipose first and then the ventral or vice versa A common method for holding the fish when clipping both the adipose and ventral fins is to place the fish farther down the hand in the groove between the first and second fingers with the thumb holding the head Then after clipping the adipose fin the fish is turned with the thumb flipped over on its back and the ventral fin clipped Those clippers who hold the fish between their fingers usually use their thumb to turn the fish to clip the second fin while those who hold the fish with the body suspended in the air usually twist the hand to clip the second fin WHAT SHOULD I BE LOOKING FOR 1 QUALITY CONTROL CHECKS GENERAL Always conduct quality control checks It is human nature that better tagging performance will be obtained with frequent quality control checks Check frequently tag positioning tag retention fin clip quality mortality levels and marking speed These quality control checks are summarized below 1 Tag positioning Coded wire tag placement in the nose cartilage of the f
6. Pp NUN SHPOWfFW UU Fo UD EE pius WWW PMPA PEPEN Pe Chinook Weight Max E MUN Lo uw Ur Un Un WWM ND N HDD tu Y up sw D HN HA Rp Min Avg Pp pi Table 3 Division FRASER RIVER Coho sizes for coded wire tagging at the surveyed hatcheries Facility Capilano Chehalis Chilliwack Clearwater Eagle Inch Creek Quesnel Spius Tenderfoot Number Marked 236 620 132 469 80 000 50 000 50 000 145 000 122 000 130 000 108 000 342 000 337 000 332 000 40 102 10 080 9 994 10 200 10 016 20 073 9 367 10 158 10 073 9 895 10 089 20 000 30 000 51 000 140 000 150 000 44 000 69 000 Unknown Coho Weight g Max 20 20 9 8 15 20 20 FPP pm 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 Min 10 10 6 7 8 12 20 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 AVE 15 15 13 20 20 w W ho 00 00 7 50 7 9 00 50 50 Table 3 Division NORTH COAST SOUTH COAST cont d Facility Kitimat Pallant Snootli Big Qualicum Little Qualicum Nitinat Puntledge Quinsam Robertson Brood Year 1984 1985 1984 1985 1985 1986 1986 1986 1985 1986 1984 1985 1984 1985 1986 1986 1984 1984 1985 1985 1986 1984 1984 1985 1984 1985 10 Number Marked 47 209 70 924 97 000 31 000 156 000 31 000 61 000 94 000 20 91
7. The setting on the gain screw allows detection of the tag Under normal conditions if the screw is turned all the way to the right set then turned back 1 4 this process usually achieves an ideal setting for the machine to detect the tag However if the crew is working under fluorescent lights the lights tend to throw off the QCD somewhat so that it may be necessary to turn the gain switch down another 1 4 because the QCD may click and detect a fish when none is present Occasionally the QCD will not detect a tag although a clearly tagged fish passes through In this case the gain should be checked to ensure that it is turned on fully then turned back 1 4 It is possible that somehow the gain screw has been turned back and is not capable of detecting the tag However if this measure is unsuccessful the only other possibility is that the QCD control box has malfunctioned To test this switch control boxes with another machine and if the problem is resolved send the faulty control box for repairs In summary then if a fish is dropped through the QCD and no clicking noise results check the gain screw and failing that switch control boxes from a QCD that works In the event that the QCD begins clicking for no apparent reason and a generator is used as a power source check if the QCD is receiving sufficient power Delay Setting The setting on the delay screw determines the amount of time that the water jet st
8. insuring honest d punting bs well is help More qual ith control dl ecks and ords show that Allice nee training is required Orr 8 A A JR en APPENDIX G NORTHWEST MARINE TECHNOLOGY TECHNICAL BULLETINS Reproduced with permission Northwest Marine Technology Inc DO Shaw isiand Washington 98286 206 468 3375 EXPORT PRICE LIST REPLACEMENT PARTS 1 January 1991 AMPHENOL CONNECTOR SERIES 165 33 34 35 36 MKII MKIII US 41 00 BATTERY ADAPTER MKII MKIII 230 00 BATTERY ADAPTER MKIV 115 00 BATTERY Field Sampling Detector Tubular Detector set of 2 18 00 CABLE POWER amp INTERCONNECT MKII MKIII 190 00 CABLE INTERCONNECT MKIV 185 00 CLAMPING NUT NEEDLE CARRIER MKII MKIII MKIV 12 00 COUNTER MKII MKIII 185 00 CUTTER MKII MKIV 1 150 00 CUTTER MKIII 1 300 00 DRIVE ROLLERS SET MKII MKIII MKIV 110 00 FILTER ASSY IN LINE for QCD MKII MKIII 115 00 FILTER ASSY IN LINE for QCD MKIV 150 00 FILTER SCREEN for QCD MKIV 25 00 FUNNEL for QCD MKII MKIII MKIV 300 00 GASKET MKIV Filter Assembly 10 00 HARD WIRE CUTTERS plier type 150 00 HEAD MOLD BASE 16 00 HEAD MOLD HOLDER MKII 135 00 HEAD MOLD FABRICATION JIG 29 00 HEAD MOLD FABRICATION KIT includes supplies and video 170 00 HEAD MOLD CUSTOM FABRICATION FROM SUPPLIED SPECIMEN 400 00 HEAD MOLD Sizes from 2 1800 fish pound for various species 70 00 HEX WRENCH 12 00 HEX WRENCH INSERT SET OF 3 6 00 HOSE QUICK DISCONNECT for QcD
9. 1 CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE Frequency of Cleaning While the manufacturer generally recommends daily cleaning this is usually not necessary Machine cleaning takes too long at the end of the working day and often the machine will jam after it has been cleaned so that the tagging operation itself is placed at risk Normally when the equipment is set up everything is cleaned and sterilized and a thorough machine cleaning will often be done at the end of each tagging week In the interim the machines should be left on 24 hours each day in order to keep the parts warm and dry and thereby render the cutters less likely to seize up The ideal frequency of cleaning tagging machines should be about every three days providing that the machines can be left with the power on for 24 hours each day If the tagging site is remote and requires a generator so that the power will be turned on and off then the machines should be cleaned daily Cleaning Procedure Equipment maintenance is based on cleanliness Always ensure that the needles and needle carriers are clean and free of grime Also ensure that the cutter motor cutter housing and the cutter itself are clean When cleaning a tagging machine the primary area is the tag injector The QCD is basically uncleanable except for removing surface dirt and grime and ensuring that the electrical connections are dry and rust free The following steps are provided for cleaning the tag injector 1
10. Count of CLIP ACCURACY Comments Incorrect of Good Clips On Z Discount Discount TOTAL Bad Good On Counter Checked Time Clipper Overall VALID DAILY RECORD FINCLIPPING Alice 1000 o gt gt gt Hatchery Pallant Ck rn Stock Mathers Specie Cm Clip AV nn Date Mar 28 45 Recorded by Z 7 4 SAMPLE Sa CLIP ACCURACY COUNT ACCURACY Counter Checked Clips Clips VALID Counter Counted Count of Overall Bob 0900 w uw e s ve yak Carol og00 51 wo o eo 2 a cos Ted o y o 2 ews 75 Alice Y wo ts ve so vel 500 Bo 000 s Pwo o o sz ew lo bon Canal lalo aw s sw Ted wo o o es O o gs z zo m i lx RARO a gt N SPP PR O Ja Aa iS y o be o o Y e may not be done at the same time or Frequency as the clip minus any mis cpunts ld have that total the TO A VALID cp orrect cp hat ont le ose fish were counted incorrectly These count checks are excellen o o N iS c pP io Note 1 Cobnt check h gt 4 m E 5 ea Le iz pa iO E El ict 0 si El De O bunt checks should the same w El gt 9 e S lt p js ja o fe a 1 D ie ie CN l al Q S a he i y S sjo o pa 2 An 3 NO fo 4 Red y counts found incorrect wo discougt for in
11. Good lighting in the tagging area is essential especially for fin clipping Since most hatcheries do not have sufficient lights available additional portable lights should be on hand and ready for use during tagging Inflow Water Quality Ideally the inflow water supplying the tagging table should be tested for pH and dissolved oxygen However this is not usually done since marginal water quality is reflected in the condition of the fish during rearing Nevertheless pH and especially dissolved oxygen should be monitored before and not after mortalities occur Equipment Set up It is difficult to compile a standard list of the required marking equipment since each hatchery has its own facilities For example at one hatchery tagged fish may be deposited directly into a special recovery trough constructed in the tagging area for that purpose with the tag rejects diverted 18 into a net within the trough At another site all tagged fish may be dropped into buckets then removed periodically and placed into recovery containers Therefore an equipment list for the first hatchery would include net liners and for the second hatchery a set of specialized buckets Although the physical set up of the area for coded wire tagging will vary for each hatchery each operation should include 1 Transfer troughs with flowing water so that size sorted fish can be sent to different machines These troughs should have about a 3 diameter and
12. collected in an orderly manner 2 CONDITION OF FISH The most important aspect of preparing fish for coded wire tagging is establishing the seasonal timing of the tagging activities Tagging usually takes place from late February to early July with the exception of overwintered coho which may be tagged in mid winter Preparing fish for fin clipping is similar to preparing them for coded wire tagging except that much smaller fish can be fin clipped The primary factors to consider are water temperature and fish size Since each hatchery has its own temperature regime and subsequent growth curves the following weights and temperatures are provided to assist in estimating appropriate site specific timing for tagging operations Minimum Maximum Species Weight g Temperature C Chinook 1 0 14 Coho 1 0 15 Chum 0 8 14 In general even if the fish size criteria are met marking should not be undertaken if 1 water temperature is above the determined critical level for the hatchery in question 2 fish are being treated for disease or 3 fish are smolting Each of these major concerns as well as fish size are discussed below Water Temperature Maximum water temperatures during tagging can vary among sites and stocks For example Hartley Bay fish were tagged at water temperatures ranging from 20 C to 25 C with approximately 10 mortalities reported each year 100 000 coho tagged in each of 3 years Normally tagging at these temp
13. it becomes impossible to determine the true fishery contribution of a hatchery production group if a biased segment of the adult population is recovered e g if all the large fish lost their pins or only one size group was tagged Short term tag retention Tag loss estimates are made by taking a random sample of 100 tagged fish and passing them down the spout and into the QCD If any of the fish enter the reject bucket they are then passed again through the system and once again unless they clearly indicate a tag This level of repetition is necessary since the QCD cannot be totally relied on for a variety of reasons For our purposes the term tag loss refers to the percent of the 100 fish that are definitely untagged The term tag retention is its reciprocal i e if there is 2 tag loss then there is 98 tag retention It is recommended that short term tag loss estimates be conducted every 24 hours If there is a 48 hour delay before finding out that tag losses are high a day is lost in which to correct poor tag placement involving perhaps 14 000 to 20 000 fish Daily tag loss estimates also provide a good immediate indication of the overall success of the operation Short term tag loss estimates should be conducted on each machine separately i e if four machines are operating then four separate batches of fish should be checked This approach is essential to isolate the reasons for poor tag placement since the reasons are
14. sss s Smolting Fish s s s sss gt 3 EQUIPMENT e tn ser sa sr Le a Tagging Machines sos eso Scissors a v s ti m8 4 bh ee l PREPARE THE FISH we Starving Fish 1 2 Containing Fish sss 2 PREPARE THE AREA s 6 o Tagging Area ww Inflow Water Quality Equipment Set up 3 PREPARE THE MACHINES s we es Unit Assembly e s s esse Machine Preparation e e 4 CHOOSE THE ANAESTHETIC s 2 Phenoxyethanol s s s gt s ss MS 222 Tricane methanesulfonate Marinal 000 e eo mer a do e ste Carbon Dioxide sss iv iv vi Hp w w ub amp 12 12 13 13 14 15 15 15 17 17 17 17 21 21 22 23 23 24 24 24 iii Recommendations on the Cho Human Health Hazards CODED WIRE TAGGING Basic Operations Establishing Fish Size Ran Tag Positioning Handling Rejects Other se FIN CLIPPING oo Hand Movement WHAT SHOULD I QUALITY CONTROL CHECKS GENERAL CODED WIRE TAGGING s Tag Retention ADIPOSE FIN CLIPPING Clip Checking Determination of Good and Adipose Fin Regeneration Other Concerns VENTRAL FIN CLIPPING Responsibilities Container System
15. this applies especially to pink and chum fry Note however that Alaskan agencies tag these fry at 0 75 g and smaller J Kallshian Northwest Marine Technology pers comm Since only a few fin clip codes are available ventral adipose maxillary bone most of the fin clipping performed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans DFO is used for distinguishing between hatchery and non hatchery fish in target fisheries Examples of this strategy are chum marking at Pallant Conuma and Snootli hatcheries Fin clipping is also used in freshwater studies to examine populations and compare stocks For example Hurst and Blackman 1988 used fin clips to assess coho fry outplanting into various habitat types both barren and containing indigenous unmarked fish and to compare the freshwater behaviour of hatchery and non hatchery stocks Ocean distribution was not a primary concern in these studies Clipped juveniles were identified visually and returned live to the system Since the DFO uses adipose and ventral fin clips almost exclusively in fin clipping operations this report does not discuss maxillary half dorsal or other fin clips that may be applied for experimental purposes METHODOLOGY This manual presents field techniques developed to improve marking quality and efficiency The manual is based on personal experience on site evaluations interviews with numerous technical authorities and questionnaire responses The practical work fo
16. 00 The above are available from McMaster Carr 9601 John St Santa Fe Springs California 90670 USA Telephone 213 945 2811 Northwest Marine Technology Inc Shaw Island Washington 98286 206 468 3375 Telex 287944 NWMT UR TS O 2401 Bristol Court SW Olympia Washington 98502 206 754 4304 BINARY CODED WIRE TAG READING INSTRUCTIONS SIX WORD HALF LENGTH FORMAT Introduction to Binary Numbering Binary numbering is a method by which numerical values are represented using a series of marks each mark having a particular value To determine the value of a number written in binary form you would total up ue value s of the binary digits Consider the number 2065 In decimal digit format it could be written as 1000 s 100 s 10 s 1 s 2 0 6 5 Said another way it means the sum of 2 thousands no hundreds 6 tens and 5 ones Binary numbers can be written in columns the same way The number 13 in binary digit format would be written as 8 s 4 s 2 s t g 1 1 0 1 The binary number 1101 thus means the sum of 1 eight 1 four no twos and 1 one or 1011 13 decimal How Six word Half length Tags Use Binary Coding This format of half tag is marked with six lines of binary information or words written lengthwise on the wire The words are equally spaced at 60 degree intervals around the circumference of the wire The words have the following designations Master Data 1 Data 2 Agency Data 3 and Data 4 The
17. 10 12 ml of stock solution are used for a 4 5 Litre pail of water giving a concentration of 222 267 mg l The contents are then buffered with approximately 3 g or half a teaspoon of baking soda If the water temperature is high over 14 C DO NOT BUFFER since high fish mortalities may result However without the buffering agent the time to immobilization will be longer This can be remedied by increasing the anaesthetic strength using up to 14 ml 4 5 litre bucket and lengthening the fish immersion time in the anaesthetic bath MS 222 anaesthetizes fish somewhat faster than the 2 phenoxy 1 minute for the above stock solution and pail size Therefore smaller batches of fish e g 80 must be immersed at one time Fish should not be in the anaesthetic longer than 2 minutes and less than that if the water temperature is above 10 C While this procedure requires more rapid handling of fish compared to using 2 phenoxy it provides better health conditions for the clippers since clipping basins should contain only fresh water with anaesthetized fish Marinal Marinal is a new fish anaesthetic that evidently has no residual effects on adult fish Therefore broodstock adults that have been anaesthetized with Marinal can be immediately killed and used for human consumption Presumably Marinal is also safer for the tagging crew who are constantly absorbing anaesthetics through skin contact The author conducted preliminary tests on Marinal
18. Jig Insert the base of the needle through the hole in the head mold base and into the hole in the casting jig Position the specimen so that clearance between the nose and the head mold base is 1 2 mm for large specimens Clearance for very small specimens can be perhaps as large as 6 mm Fig 2 Carefully apply a band of 2 masking tape around the head mold base to contain the casting resin For very large specimens it may be necessary to flare the tape somewhat Fig 3 Mix the polyester casting resin according to instructions on the container and pour to a depth of 2 3 cm above the tip of the snout As the resin cures it will first gel When it is firm enough to hold its shape pull out the specimen and remove the tape Allow to cure in a warm place overnight The excess resin can then be removed A fine hacksaw and coarse and fine files are very use ful Figure 4 shows the nature of the finished product It is essential to cut away the resin over the area of the eyes of the specimen The hard plastic will cause damage to the eyes if this is not carefully done The final test is to use the moid to implant tags It should provide rellabie placement of tags as determined by disection of tagged specimens Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Shaw Island Washington 98286 206 468 2340 Northwest Marine Technology Inc Shaw Island Washington 98286 206 468 2340 BULLETIN MAGNETIZING OR REMAGNETIZING OF IMPLANTED CODED
19. Of 18 responses six had information on fin regeneration 6 Nearly all respondents described an acceptable level of good tags as 95 or greater while only 17 of respondents specifically identified 99 to 100 as acceptable A wide variation in fin clipping speeds was reported among the individual hatcheries although the overall average and minimum speeds were less extreme Single Clips hr Double Clips hr Average 601 411 Minimum 481 323 Administration For the 19 hatcheries which contracted a marking crew 18 different contractors were listed Most contractors worked for several years at one location In fact in only two cases was there clear evidence that the marking contractor was changed over the designated three year period that the survey encompassed The fundamental difference between hiring workers through agency contracts and hiring a separate marking contractor is as follows In the first case the primary responsibility for marking success remains with the hatchery staff In the second case the authority and responsibility rest with the contractor at least in theory if not in practice It is important to note that at most hatcheries 16 of 21 hatchery staff were assigned to supervise marking to some extent regardless of how the markers and marking team were hired All respondents were willing to seek improvement in their marking technique Most of the hatcheries 17 of 21 wanted an on site evaluation of their
20. Officers regarding CWI data recording C Cross DFO Memo December 29 1989 Please make a brief comment on the release report for any group of fish which you feel are sufficiently unhealthy at release as to have lower survival than normal Flagging unusual conditions such as this can assist data users from other agencies Keep tagging data e g number tagged number unmarked etc separate for each tag code Do not sum these data over two or more tag codes as it can potentially ruin the data for any adult analyses The only exception to this is a common tag loss rate for several tag codes for a given species where all tag codes and stocks are pooled to make up a representational tag retention sample It is recommended that standardized data forms be used so that they can be easily interpreted by the Headquarters staff resulting in better communication and follow up throughout Appendix F contains proposed data record sheets for coded wire tagging operations based on the Quesnel Hatchery format Appendix F also includes a proposed data record sheet for fin clipping operations based on the Chilliwack Hatchery format and provides sample data A standardized fin clipping form is necessary to provide a proper interpretation of the clipping results The form must show evidence of quality control checking frequency of poor clips and clearly show the number of good clips that have been released 49 TAGGING MACHINE TROUBLESHOOTING
21. Recovered 123 1 4 25 120 1 2 24 45 3 4 2 Total 288 58 44 In response the hatchery staff have improved quality control which led to much lower fin regeneration rates as evidenced in current fishery recoveries D Bailey pers comm It is unfortunate that fin clipping conducted previously did not apply discount factors to poor clips so that the 4 zone and percent discount system could be evaluated 5 MORTALITY Acceptable Mortality Level E An acceptable tagging mortality level is 100 200 mortalities for every 100 000 fish tagged or 0 1 0 2 of the tagged population At the surveyed hatcheries acceptable tagging mortality levels ranged from 0 to lt 2 0 Table 6 In fact it is possible for only 10 or 20 fish in a group of 100 000 to succumb during a tagging operation Normal rates should be about 5 mortalities per day and if this increases to about 40 per day both the tagging supervisor and the hatchery manager should begin looking for specific problems The marking procedure itself does not result in marking mortalities However fish handling during tagging may be incorrect or the fish may be smolting or not fully recovered from a recent disease treatment or unhealthy as indicated by increased mortalities prior to tagging Specific fish handling concerns that should be checked when mortalities occur include anaesthetic mis use deep clips and poor water quality These and other mortality factors are discussed individ
22. WIRE TAGS There are occasions when implanted coded wire tags need to be magnetized or remagnetized with something other than the Quality Control Device QCD or ring magnet supplied by Northwest Marine Technology Inc This situation typically arises if A The specimen is too large to be passed through the QCD B Tags are positioned in the specimen in a manner which prohibits axial orientation in the QCD C Small quantities of the specimen are tagged without the use of a QCD D Remote tagging is performed without a QCD Fully magnetized tags are essential to magnetic detec tion in recovery Magnetization can be accomplished with a large permanent magnet by following a few sim ple rules The rules have to do with the fashion in which the tag is removed from the magnetic field The idea is to position the tag lengthwise across the strongest magnetic field and then remove it without passing through regions in which the field reverses direction See illustration lt is important to use a large enough device that with the largest specimen the tag can be brought into a sufficiently strong magnetic field Tag Depth in Specimen 5 inches or less Horseshoe Magnet 75 Opening Part No 5842K14 Approximately 40 00 Large Specimen or over 5 REMOVE FISH FROM FIELD Tag Depth in Specimen l WITHOUT CHANGING ORIENTATION Horseshoe Magnet OF TAG WITH RESPECT TO MAGNET 6 5 Opening Part No 5849K17 Approximately 300
23. be seated comfortably their arms resting on the marking table if he or she prefers High quality stools with adjustable seats and backs should be purchased otherwise uncomfortable back problems may develop and fin clipping quality and speed may deteriorate As mentioned earlier the crew must have a dry warm area for operating since physical comfort has a major effect on the marking speed and efficiency When clipping fish many clippers prefer to use magnifiers These should be included with the normal fish handling equipment i e basins net liners scissors anaesthetic etc In the author s experience good lighting around the clippers usually reduces the need for magnifiers However magnifiers should be made available When clipping small fish such as pink and chum fry magnifiers may be a necessity as they provide good lighting exactly where needed and remove the need for harsh room lights overhead In fact it may be advisable to turn off overhead lights if glare on the magnifiers is a problem TAGGING TABLE Standard 3 4 inch A hose fitting y Transfer d troughs for boca size sorte fish Anaesthetic Basin Tagging This clipping basin Machine sits on top of the tagging table Tagging Basin Clipping Basin Drain hole Figure 1 Tagging table set up for two machines top view 61 Transfer troughs for passing size sorted fish Tagging Machine Figure 2 Anaesthetic Basin TAGGING Ana
24. crucial moment thereby resulting in deep clips or improper tag placement 2 phenoxy is the preferred anaesthetic for fin clipping especially for chum salmon as the fish can tolerate a longer time period in the anaesthetic bath That is fish can be safely anaesthetized in a 4 5 minute period and then left in the bath for a further 10 minutes without any apparent ill effects This allows about 200 fish to be anaesthetized at a time instead of a smaller group of perhaps 20 Note that although 2 phenoxy appears to be harmless in the short term the sublethal and long term effects are unknown Therefore it is cautioned that daily immersion of taggers hands in the anaesthetic filled clipping basins may lead to unknown health hazards 24 The dosage of 2 phenoxy depends on the species and fish size and on the amount of water and its temperature As determined from the questionnaire returns the recommended dosage at a pH range of 6 3 to 8 1 is 1 ml of 2 phenoxy per Imperial gallon of water i e 1 4 546 The dosage should always be tested before beginning operations to adjust for site specific factors Some facilities anaesthetize in a separate container at full dosage then distribute anaesthetized fish to clipper basins at half the dosage strength MS 222 Tricane methanesulfonate MS 222 comes in a powdered form and is more easily mixed than the 2 phenoxy A stock solution is mixed using 100 g MS 222 and 1 0 litres of water Subsequently
25. edge has been changed one last time even if this does not appear to be the problem initially Poor Wire Feed Sometimes the wire is not feeding into the tag injector properly or when it does it comes through very stiffly If this happens clean out the wire guide see next paragraph since the following problem is suspected When the wire comes through the rollers it immediately goes through the wire guide before entering the cutter It has happened several times that a piece of wire can actually be jammed in the end of the wire guide so that the wire cannot be fed properly Therefore if the machine is jammed for no obvious reason but you know that the wire isn t being fed properly chances are that a piece of wire is stuck in the wire guide The wire guide must then be removed and cleaned To clean out the wire guide remove the rollers and also loosen the hexagonal nut on top of the cutter motor assembly Then pull out the wire guide at the back of the cutter motor assembly clean it and put it back in Note that the wire guide is about one inch long costs about 50 00 and is extremely brittle If it is dropped pulled too hard or twisted it will break Without the wire guide the machine is inoperable For this reason the suggested list of spare parts includes a wire guide Occasionally the fish are not being tagged although the machine is cycling properly In this case check the spool wire and see that it is not snarled or wound too
26. for marking marking facilities and equipment staff training anaesthetic and marking techniques quality control and administration Preparation for Marking At all the hatcheries fish were starved before marking but in many cases the length of the starvation period was unknown or showed considerable variability The starvation period was less than one day in 3 of the 19 responses To obtain fish for marking most workers crowded and dipped them from the rearing containers again showing considerable variability in the method of containing fish Respondents were evidently confused by the questions on size grading specifically regarding when and how to grade the fish 4 of 10 respondents used grading devices e g perforated aluminum funnel shaped graders at Inch Creek Hatchery Most hatcheries selected fish randomly for marking and all indicated low numbers of pinheads in their fish populations Consequently the incidence of pinheads was not considered in subsequent data adjustments Note that several respondents thought that grading referred only to pinhead removal rather than to size sorting during tagging In deciding whether or not to mark fish at a certain time the primary concerns were fish size time at release and disease factors It is of interest that 5 of 16 hatcheries noted that tagging timing was also based on hatchery activities related to management Marking Facilities and Equipment In general the respondents indica
27. hand for a right handed person with the head of the fish in the centre of the palm and the tail of the fish protruding between thumb and forefinger Fig 4 Wrap the hand around the fish and hold it firmly but gently so that only the tail is protruding Slide the scissors parallel to and up the back of the fish under the adipose fin until the scissors stop Then gently close the scissors to make an even smooth cut The clipping motion should be slow so that the scissors are closed carefully over the fin A motion that is too quick may cause incorrect angle of the scissors in relation to the fish and may result in a poor clip For example if the scissors are pointed down a deep clip will result if pointed up a shallow clip with a peak left over will result Figure 5 shows acceptable and unacceptable adipose fin clips Sometimes clippers hold the fish upside down so that they almost have to turn their hand over to get at the adipose fin This is a very awkward hand movement and results in a poor clip Furthermore when tagging the last few fish in a batch some fish will start reviving from the anaesthetic and will require Figure 4 Holding and clipping the 32 adipose fin prior to coded wire tagging 33 ACCEPTABLE Size of actual bump should be no greater in size than that shown No damage to the flesh occurs UNACCEPTABLE Size of bump is too large and some flesh has been removed Check angle of scissors
28. knuckles need be immersed Average hand 350 cm2 ASSUMPTIONS The skin absorption rate for 2 phenoxyethanol is not known However methyl n butyl ketone is also readily absorbed through skin so as a first approx use the skin absorption rate for MnBK or 5 wg min cm A permissible concentration for 2 phenoxyethanol has not been established so use the NIOSH recommended value of 25 ppm for 2 butoxyethanol by analogy CALCULATIONS The absorption rate will be proportional to the solution concentration therefore assu ed absorption rate for solution could be 5 ag om2 min x 300 ppm 1 5 x 1073 49 min cm2 Theoretical amount of 2 phenoxyethanol absorbed per day by dermal route would thus be 1 5 x 1073 49 min om2 x 350 cm2 hand area x 480 min day 272 3 day or 0 27 mg day Assuming an individual worker inhales about 10 cubic meters of air per working day then the above amount absorbed would be equivalent to Page 2 Theoretical Estimate of Worker Exposure to Phenoxyethanol During Fish Marking Procedure 0 27 m9 day 9 027 mg m 10 m3 day or 0 15 ppm of phenoxyethanol in the air This value of 0 15 ppm is less than one one hundredth of the acceptable concentration for 2 butoxyethanol of 25 ppm Thus unless the skin absorption rate for the phenoxyethanol was more than 100 times that of the MnBK skin absorption would not likely present an undue health risk Because the actual skin absor
29. molds custom fitted by the hatchery staff Head mold making would make an excellent workshop subject Note that the Northwest Marine Technology has an instructional video and head mold fabrication kit for those who want to make their own molds J Kallshian pers comm Handling Rejects The presence or absence of fish in the reject bucket is used as an indication of the overall tagging success Therefore taggers should not remove rejects from the reject bucket during tagging Instead the quality control supervisor should closely monitor the number of rejects Large numbers of rejects are the first sign of tagging problems and both the machines and the tagged fish should be checked immediately and adjustments made Fish in the reject bucket should be re anaesthetized and passed again through the QCD Note that unanesthetized fish can actively swim against the water jets and may be improperly directed If the QCD shows that the fish are indeed not tagged then they are re tagged and the numbers adjusted to reflect the total numbers of fish tagged that day The number of rejects per machine per day can be determined by recording the tag injector numbers prior to tagging the rejects and again after the rejects are tagged Tag reject rates should be recorded daily for each machine If large numbers of fish are found in the reject bucket more than 30 or 40 per day per machine three items should be checked 1 QCD problem Is
30. often machine or tagger specific e g incorrect head mold poor size sorting of fish and improper handling by tagger Therefore if machine 4 shows a 4 tag loss while machines 1 and 2 show a negligible tag loss then the supervisor can concentrate on the machine 4 and its tagger to find the problem Long term tag retention Long term tag loss estimates should be performed just prior to release of the fish and compared to the 24 hour results It is the author s experience that in properly tagged fish any tag loss will occur in the first 24 hours so that the long term tag loss just before release should be at the same level as the 24 hour loss For example at the Quesnel Hatchery tag loss was estimated daily on four machines and also prior to release from the hatchery i e up to 2 months after tagging In this example the difference between the long term and the 24 hour tag loss estimates was virtually zero The average fish size at tagging was 1 8 g indicating that large numbers of 1 0 g fish were also tagged with nearly 100 long term tag retention In fish this small the area of nose cartilage exposed to the head mold is also small so that the use of the right head mold and proper size sorting of fish are vital The Enhancement Operations Division has expressed the following concerns to Stock Enhancement Officers regarding the need for long term tag retention sampling C Cross DFO Memo December 29 1989 Recent work has sug
31. setting the tag injector mechanism as described above and then recording the start number If the machine jams the first option is to reload the wire and try again If the machine still jams and the cutter has done more than 100 000 cuts then move to cutter edge 2 This is done by simply changing the control switch on the control box from to and by recording the counter number in the maintenance book If it is subsequently necessary to change the rollers while using edge 2 then the counter number when this occurs should also be recorded If the machine begins to jam again and this coincides with for example 116 000 cuts then switch to cutter edge 3 This can be done in two ways 1 take the cutter out and turn the inner core over so that the slash mark is now on the bottom indicating that edges 3 and 4 can be used or 2 leave the cutter in place and move the inner core by turning the knob on the cutter motor arrow indicator When the cutter is rotated also change the control switch back from to Most of the time it will be convenient to remove the cutter and replace it manually This is because cutter edge changes will be associated with jams and wire reloads that require this operation anyway However it is possible to change the orientation of the cutter core by simply adjusting the knob on the cutter motor Cutter Maintenance Cutter maintenance essentially involves cleaning Every two or three days the cutter shou
32. some stagnant water was also used 5 Most respondents agreed that a water temperature fluctuation of between 1 C and 3 C was acceptable Of 20 respondents 13 monitored water temperature in the anaesthetic bath and most hatcheries reduced the temperature simply by changing the anaesthetic baths frequently Of 19 respondents seven hatcheries measured dissolved oxygen levels at least occasionally and nine used oxygenated anaesthetic baths It was recognized that anaesthetic dosages varied with temperature but only 5 of 19 hatcheries buffered the anaesthetic even though the pH often dropped below 7 When asked about actual human health problems associated with fish anaesthetics five hatcheries reported that such problems existed Both the 2 phenoxy and MS 222 were implicated in causing skin rashes some acne and possible other effects on pregnant workers Health concerns were most often cited as the reasons why a certain anaesthetic was not used and workers were primarily concerned about skin rashes and unknown carcinogenic effects Marking Technique All of the surveyed hatcheries used disinfectants iodine bromine based during tagging but 6 of 19 hatcheries did not disinfect between different groups of fish within the hatchery At approximately half of the surveyed hatcheries fish were treated after marking usually with a malachite dip However six of 19 respondents reported infection after marking even among treated groups of fi
33. system with an overlapping size range is considered to be very efficient It is important to tag a random sample of the hatchery fish regardless of their size so that a representative size range of the overall hatchery production is marked If the fish are graded prior to marking so that all small and large individuals are excluded and only the medium sized fish are tagged a non representative group of hatchery fish will be traced through the CWT returns in the recovery system This defeats the purpose of tagging For example in some observed cases fish were sorted prior to tagging so that large and small fish were set aside and only the mid sized fish were retained for marking This approach allowed more accurate tag placement and better overall tagging success However the statistics generated from these tag returns did not reflect the majority of the hatchery population most of which consisted of either larger or smaller fish which may have experienced different survival rates from the mid sized fish Tag Positioning Tag positioning should be checked by slicing open the fish head longitudinally with a scalpel The nose tag should be positioned squarely in the centre of the nose cartilage Fig 3 One fish should be sacrificed hourly for each tagging machine to avoid missing a gradual change in fish size which can easily go unnoticed by the crew Frequent tag positioning checks will also monitor whether the taggers are getting ahead of
34. their machines Of all the hatchery sites visited by the author not one tagging operation was using the correct head mold size for the size of fish being tagged or getting the correct tag placement Typically the small fish were tagged too deep and the large fish not deep enough Yet the questionnaire returns indicated that all the hatcheries knew what the correct tag placement was Two possible reasons may explain this problem 1 not knowing what the correct tag placement looks like when examining the freshly killed fish at the tagging site and 2 not sorting the fish for size prior to tagging It is the author s opinion that not sorting the fish properly for size was the primary reason for poor tag placement This omission is best illustrated by an example At one hatchery a special tagging area was designed and constructed that included a tagging table with allowance for fish transfer troughs to lead to each of the two or three tagging machines Although it would have been a simple task for the clippers to place large medium and small sized fish into different troughs in order to size grade the fish for each machine this was not done Consequently fish of all sizes were passed to all the machines This resulted in small fish being tagged too deep and larger fish tagged not deep enough as determined by random 28 A Proper Tag Placement Within Cartilege ae o SW B Improper Tag Placements S Figure 3 Proper A and
35. to assure that an independent reader gets the same answer The rule at this time is that with the tag in its normal orientation i e least significant digits to the right see last example below the right most legible replicate number is recorded Examples Replicate 3 1 R 32 16 8 4 2 1 COLUMN IDENTIFICATION 1 1 1 1 1 1 MASTER 1 1 1 1 DATA1 14 1 1 1 1 1 AGENCY 60 1 DATA2 8 Replicate 7 2 1 R 32 16 8 4 2 COLUMN IDENTIFICATION PEN T 1 1 MASTER 1 1 td 1 DATA1 26 1 1 1 AGENCY 12 1 1 1 1 1 DATA2 35 Replicate 5 R 32 16 8 4 2 1 R COLUMN IDENTIFICATION 1 1 111 MASTER 1 1 4 4 1 1 DATAf 31 1 de 04 AGENCY 14 1 1 1 1 1 DATA2 41 To CWI Coordinators and Users Subj Format Change Half Length Tags The complete utilization of the relatively small number of codes available 64 per Agency by some agencies has necessitated a new format for coding half length tags The new format tags are recognizable by virtue of a new master word indicated in the following example Column 8 Master Word Old Format Master Word New Format Data 1 7 e g Agency L e g 1 Data 2 15 e g 1 1 2 1 1 11 1 11 1 1 I 1 1 Parity Bit Note that the new master word is not that reported in the minutes of 1981 Mark Tag Coordination meeting PMFC January 27 1981 The master word described there while technically adequate ts unacceptably difficult to read The other new feature of the format is the use of a single parity chec
36. using three different dosages on both chinook and coho salmon All fish were anaesthetized very quickly but required a long time 6 8 minutes to recover Reducing the dosage to very low levels did not shorten the recovery time and the fish twitched similar to the effects of the 2 phenoxy anaesthetic Since Marinal appears to be a stronger drug than either 2 phenoxy or MS 222 it is possible that accidental overdoses will occur more frequently unless the operation is carefully monitored Also the cost alone will inhibit the use of Marinal it is retail priced at 400 per 100 g compared to 29 per 100 g for MS 222 Carbon Dioxide Dissolved carbon dioxide is presently used as an anaesthetic at the Robertson Tenderfoot and Big Qualicum hatcheries where it appears to be a 25 successful alternative Dosages used are 200 300 ppm bubbled in with 0 gas The anaesthetic solution is changed 1 to 4 times daily The primary beneficial aspect of CO is the lack of residual effects which are apparent with MS 222 and 2 phenoxy The Robertson Creek Hatchery has used CO successfully for a three year period but the available information is insufficient to provide an adequate data base More information will be forthcoming in the future As with any new technique it is necessary to learn how to use it in an operational sense At the Tenderfoot Hatchery a recirculating system was used initially to maintain dissolved gas levels but this approac
37. 0 am and from 6 00 pm to 8 00 pm daily or from 6 00 am to 2 00 pm could take advantage of cooler daily air and water temperatures The primary problem with this scheduling is that government hatchery crews work from 8 00 am to 4 00 pm so that a special effort would be required to coordinate the different shifts of hatchery and marking crews Often a 6 00 am to 2 00 pm shift works well the tagging crew gets a 2 hour head start on the regular hatchery activities and when they leave for the day the hatchery crew has a few hours to inspect the tagged fish and move untagged fish into containers prior to the next day s marking Fish Size Tables 2 3 and 4 provide an overview of the coded wire tagging programs for chinook coho and chum respectively at the surveyed hatcheries Annual mean sizes at tagging ranged widely for chinook 0 8 14 8 g and coho 1 6 30 0 g but not chum 0 9 1 8 g For scheduling purposes a 2 5 g average size is considered optimal for tagging as the fish are relatively uniform and at a convenient size for handling and grading At this size two tagging machines can be set up to obtain optimal tag placement one machine covering the 1 8 2 5 g size range and the other the 2 5 4 0 g size range Note that fish tagged at a larger size e g 6 g average will show a larger size variation 1 12 g and consequently will require more grading and nose mold adjustments This will make it more difficult to obtain good tag placeme
38. 102 p Hurst R W and B G Blackman 1988 Coho colonization program juvenile studies 1984 to 1986 Can MS Rep Fish Aquat Sci 1968 66 p plus Appendices MacKenzie C MS 1987 Area 21 Multiple Fin Clip Recoveries weeks 101 104 1986 Letter dated January 29 1987 to D Bailey D F O Vancouver from J E Sager and Associates Moberly S A R Miller K Crandall and S Bates MS 1977 Mark Tag Manual for Salmon Alaska Dept Fish and Game F R E D Division 56 p Turvey D and H S Genoe 1984 Fish culture anaesthesia p 51 In D F Alderdice F E A Wood and D W Narver Eds Salmonid Enhancement Program Preliminary Notes on New Information in Salmonid Hatchery Propagation Can Data Rep Fish Aquat Sci 496 102 p APPENDIX C CONSTRUCTION DETAILS FOR A TWO MACHINE TAGGING TABLE 1 LIST OF EQUIPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION INSTRUCTIONS FOR A TWO MACHINE TAGGING TABLE SET UP List of Equipment see Fig 1 in text One sheet of 1 2 plywood for the tagging table 0 9 m x 1 2 m Fibreglass to make two tagging basins One Rubbermaid Dish Basin 14 x 5 to make one anaesthetic basin 10 Rubbermaid Sink Basins 12 in diameter of these 4 will become clipping basins 4 will become net liners for clipping basins and 2 will become net liners for tagging basins Netting and contact cement for net liners 3 schedule 40 PVC piping to make transfer troughs need two 7 foot sections 45 degree pi
39. 17 00 NEEDLE MKII MKIII MKIV PACK OF 5 65 00 NEEDLE CARRIER W CLAMPING NUT MKII 185 00 NEEDLE CARRIER W CLAMPING NUT MKIII MKIV 400 00 NEEDLE REAMER BIT 12 00 no RING SET FOR MKII MKIII QCD SOLENOID 2 00 RING MAGNETIZER 160 00 SCREWS ASSORTED PACKAGE MKII MKIII MKIV 12 00 SET SCREWS SMALL OR LARGE PACK OF 10 12 00 SOLENOID VALVE for QCD MKII MKIII 140 00 SOLENOID VALVE for QCD MKIV 200 00 SOLENOID VALVE REBUILD KIT MKIV 75 00 SOLENOID VALVE WRENCH MKII MKIII 60 00 SPEAKER for QCD MKII MKIII 55 00 TAG READING JIG W TWO PENCILS 195 00 TAG READING PENCIL 60 00 TOOL KIT MKII MKIII MKIV 460 00 TOUCH SWITCH MKII MKIII MKIV 270 00 Telex 287944 NWMT UR FAX 206 468 3844 Tax 1 D No 22 4935793 Northwest Marine Technology Inc O Shaw Island Washington 98286 206 468 3375 EXPORT PRICE LIST TAGGING EQUIPMENT 1 January 1991 MODEL MKIV TAGGING UNIT Includes Tag Injector Quality Control Device Power Supply Tool Kit and 3 non custom head molds MODEL MKIV TAG INJECTOR Includes Tag Injector Power Supply Tool Kit and 3 non custom head molds MODEL MKIV QUALITY CONTROL DEVICE FIELD SAMPLING DETECTOR WAND DETECTOR 2 5 TUBULAR DETECTOR 4 TUBULAR DETECTOR 6 TUBULAR DETECTOR CONVEYOR DETECTOR TRANSIT CASE FOR MKIV TAG INJECTOR TRANSIT CASE FOR MKIV QUALITY CONTROL DEVICE ELECTRONICS PACKAGE for INJECTOR MKII MKIII ELECTRONICS PACKAGE for QCD MKII MKIII POWER SUPPLY MKIV POWER SUPPL
40. 9 50 216 160 000 120 000 16 200 1 350 20 550 103 607 100 076 40 000 166 016 58 145 21 013 100 000 81 000 43 000 47 940 43 581 Coho Weight Max 13 11 Min 13 11 10 00 60 60 90 50 70 50 00 70 00 00 00 00 00 41 Avg 19 20 Ww NPWE PE 25 85 60 60 90 50 70 50 00 2 70 14 14 20 00 20 13 11 00 00 00 00 41 Table 4 Division FRASER RIVER NORTH COAST SOUTH COAST Brood Facility Year Chehalis 1984 1985 1986 Inch Creek 1985 1985 1986 Kitimat 1985 Pallant 1984 1984 1984 1985 1986 Puntledge 1984 1985 1986 Number Marked 230 000 150 000 80 000 103 811 34 340 151 724 36 062 35 000 76 000 38 000 133 000 87 000 154 080 104 097 55 632 Chum sizes for coded wire tagging at the surveyed hatcheries Chum Weight Min Max Pp ooo PoR PH PH Pee ooo ee pa ps Herrer 75 15 75 95 95 00 40 Avg te ooo HOR PPP Hs Pee 12 Although fish can be tagged at a minimum size of about 1 g long term tag retention will be lower on smaller fish For example although the 24 hour tag loss is comparable between 1 g fish and larger juveniles the long term tag loss among returning adults is considerably higher among the smaller tagged fish up to 20 compared to the normal lev
41. DATA WORD 2 If one were to imagine the surface of the tag unrolled as if it were a sheet of paper it would look like this Check 32s 16s 8s 4s 23 ls COLUMN IDENTIFICATION 0 0 1 L l Loot MASTER WORD 1 1 0 L 1 0 DATA 1 DECIMAL 45 1 O 0 l 1 l 1 AGENCY DECIMAL 15 0 I 1 0 0 1 0 DATA 2 DECIMAL 50 The convention adopted for the seventh colum the check bit is that the sum of the notches in the three data rows must always be odd This provides a check against coding errors in the data For example 1f the required number was 101101 six bit word there are four binary ones or notches the sum is therefore even and the check bit must also be a one The data would appear on the tag wire as 1101101 If the data were to be 010110 the checked data would appear on the tag wire as 0010110 since the data word already has an edd number of bits and the check bit must be zero The information on each of the four sides of the tag wire is repeated continuously every seven spaces Since tags are cut off every 8 5 spaces actual tags may be cut at any point in the word An example of a tag cut between the 4s and the 8s columns follows us 2s ls Ck 32s 16s 8s COLUMN IDENTIFICATION E Lo 0 0 1 1 _ MASTER 1 0 l l i 0 1 DATA 1 DECIMAL 45 1 1 l 1 0 0 l AGENCY DECIMAL 15 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 DATA 2 DECIMAL 50 Northwest Marine Technology Inc d Shaw Island Washington 98286 206 468 3375 Telex 287944 NWMT UR 1 2401 Bris
42. Fin Clip Check Morts TOTAL TAGGED Range Size To From Code Edge Begin End Rej End Check Acc Acc Check Acc Acc a 1 a eee Pe ey ee ee DRE Gere fe ee ee ee ae ee SA pales 1 hal Se DE A Pl PR mn A A Hrs Tagging hours minus breaks Morts Those fish checked for tag placement TOTAL TAGGED is minus those morts USE SEPARATE DATA SHEET FOR EACH TAG CODE OR RELEASE PLAN GROUP C W T QUALITY CONTROL Hatchery lac ff Data Code Tagged 24 hr TOTAL Tag Retentions Adipose Total Valid Additional Morts TOTAL RELEASE COMMENTS morts TAGGED hr hr lAvg Only Marks Prior to Release Tag Retentions will consist of 100 fish a 24 hr sample is strongly recommended to moniter machines and taggers before two days worth of marking is completed If required space is provided to do an additional 48 hr sample Holding and space constraints may not allow for each machines marked fish to be held separately for 48 hrs It is imperative that each machine have a separate tag retention sample An additional long term tag retention just prior to release is strongly recommended This form should be attached to the C W T DATA SHEET and the Comments section should include a summary of the average of fish per hour marked DAILY RECORD FINCLIPPING Hatchery Stock Recorded by Date Clip Specie COUNT ACCURACY Counter Counted
43. IX E SUMMARY OF QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES 1 SUMMARY OF QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES A total of 21 hatcheries all SEP Operations facilities were asked to fill out a 14 page questionnaire detailing how their fish marking activities were conducted All of the contacted hatcheries responded although not every hatchery answered all the questions Questionnaire responses are summarized below Although considerable site specific variation was noted among facilities as well as variation in fish characteristics and marking techniques applied some standardization was possible The most striking finding of the questionnaire exercise was that the written responses did not reflect the actual situation in the hatcheries For example while everyone indicated that they knew what the correct tag placement was not one of the hatcheries visited actually had the correct tag placement Furthermore the questionnaire responses themselves indicated areas requiring clarification for example regarding fish sorting when and to what extent crew organization machine jamming problems anaesthetic dosages acceptable speed quality standards tag retention checks and relationship with contractors Given the complexity of even routine fish handling it is also possible that the questionnaire itself confused some respondents so that the right answer did not always fit the available format The following sections summarize questionnaire responses regarding preparation
44. In this case it is necessary to take the solenoid out and unplug it This action is time consuming The solenoid is very sensitive and it takes only a very small grain of sand to make it inoperable This situation can be avoided by taking two precautions 1 Purchase a water filter from the manufacturer 125 Use of a water filter has been very effective in reducing the downtime of solenoids 2 Increase the water pressure running through the QCD This measure will help flush through any residual sand or grit particles that may be in the system Caution there is some evidence that water pressure greater than 40 psi to the QCD i e 25 psi to the solenoid may be detrimental to the solenoid since the spring loaded core within the solenoid can be jammed shut If this happens lower the water pressure Pitch Setting The pitch is the horn device on the QCD If there is more than one QCD in a room each machine can be distinguished by its own pitch tone when it is rejecting fish It is permissible to cut the wires leading to the speaker as there is no need to hear the beeping noise all the time The taggers know when the machine is rejecting fish because they don t hear the clicking noise of the solenoid turning the water jet on 4 CUTTERS Selecting an Edge Each cutter edge must be carefully selected and used in order to maximize the number of cuts obtained and monitor cutter performance To set the cutter on a given edge note that
45. LES Comparison of maximum water temperatures for marking at the surveyed hatcheries 6 0 we we 51 51 54 54 54 55 55 55 56 56 57 57 57 57 57 58 61 61 61 62 62 63 19 20 28 32 33 50 52 59 v Chinook sizes for coded wire tagging at the surveyed hatcheries 7 Coho sizes for coded wire tagging at the surveyed hatcheries 9 Chum sizes for coded wire tagging at the surveyed hatcheries s l 11 Comparison of numbers of scissors used and replacement rates at the surveyed hatcheries as determined from questionnaire returns 16 Comparison of tag loss and fish mortality rates considered acceptable at the surveyed hatcheries esse we ee 39 Comparison of numbers of machines cutters cutter use and machine downtime at the surveyed hatcheries as determined from questionnaire returns 60 LIST OF APPENDICES Northwest Marine Technology Instruction Manual for Tagging Unit Models MKII and MKIII Northwest Marine Technology Instruction Manual for Tagging Unit Model MKIV Construction Details for a Two Machine Tagging Table Fin Clipping Table Design Criteria Summary of Questionnaire Responses Proposed Data Record Sheets for Coded Wire Tagging and Fin Clipping Northwest Marine Technology Technical Bulletins vi FOREWORD by D D Bailey With the rapid expansion of hatchery facilities as a result of the Salmonid E
46. Master word is always the same and its purpose is to mark the beginning of the Data words and to identify the direction in which they are to be read The Master word is not used to carry a data value The other five words Data 1 2 3 4 and Agency comprise the actual tag data Each word on the tag is represented by notches on the wire Notches are read as binary 1 no notch is read as binary 0 The data format on the tag is keyed to the Master word which as stated above is always the same It has a unique ine between mark called the half interval mark and looks like this O4 de The half interval mark is instantly apparent and is the first thing to locate when reading a tag Every tag has a Master word although it may start and end in different places e g 111 O 1 as a result of the Tag Injector cutting tags in a random position To read a tag find the Master word and orient the tag so that the master word reads in the correct direction O 1111 The remaining Data and Agency words are read using the following convention 1 The column labels for the Data words are derived from the Master word 0 1 1 1 1 MASTER WORD 8 4 2 1 COLUMN IDENTIFICATION 2 With the Master Word on top of the wire tag and running in the proper direction rotate the tag on its axis so that the Master Word moves up As the five data carrying words come into view they are in order Master Data 1 Parity Parity is described below Data 2 Agency Da
47. Remove the face plate and then remove the needle carrier by undoing 1 or 2 screws Figure 6 Some machines have the original push arm assembly 2 screws while the newer models have a single arm action 1 screw Remove the bar assembly and take out the cutter note which edge is in place for re installation later Soak all the pieces in isopropanol 2 While the parts are soaking dip a Q tip in isopropanol and clean out the cutter assembly i e motor that the cutter fits into Also clean underneath the assembly where water drips in 3 The front of the motor drive assembly where the needle goes in and out of the cutter can be cleaned with fine steel wool and buffed so that the needle has an easy entry into the cutter assembly Steel wool is also used to buff the back of the needle carrier to make sure that it is clean and smooth so that the needle has an easy entry and exit in that area Note that the manufacturer does not recommend the use of steel wool for cleaning the above parts 4 The cutter face plate needle and needle carrier after soaking for a few minutes should be dried on a paper towel It is important that these pieces be dried thoroughly before they are reinstalled in the machine COUNTER NEEDLE DRIVE _ ACTUATOR WITH SET SCREW NEEOLE CARRIER NEEDLE PUSH ROD ACTUATOR exo MOLD SHOULDER SET SCREWS NEEDLE DRIVE CUTTER ASTOR FLANGE os we gt NEEDLE CARRIER NEEDLE
48. SARS SHAE SSS APL SSS UTS E ESS SS BRS SS SEL SS SESS RESIS SEIS SSeS HSS SASH ORDAZ R 0286 5008 83 6780 2904861
49. SEPRORKSASSS oat H a aw SSEE ES SESESS HAMELS L ESTAR LSS AAASS SSS SLA STS SASS LIS SSF TASER AVES R 0286 5008 88 4780 3 A NI ESSELIASELESELS SILSIEMSSESEE FIRST AID MEASURES IO RIIIE IRA TIA MEL IICA ESOS FIRST AID Inhalation Remove to frash air following overexposure Skin Immediately flush skin with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes while removing contaminated clothing and shoes Wash contaminated clothing before rousse If symptoms are present after washing get medical attention Eye Immediately flush eves with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes and got madical attention Ingestion If swallowed induce vomiting immediately as directed by medical personnel or a poison information center Never give anything by mouth to an unconscious person CALL A PHYSICIAN OR A POISON CONTROL CENTER IMMEDIATELY EMEZITZITIIZAMNA A ARIAS AI AAA IS PREVENTIVE MEASURES ESTA AIBR SSS IAE FT SSS SSS SHS SSS SSA ESS SIS SSS AAA CID SOLAR ETICA REATIASS VENTILATION AND RESPIRATORY PROJECTION Bood ventilationx should be sufficient Supplementary ventilation or respiratory protection may be needed in special circumstances X Typically ten room volumes per hour is considered good general ventilation ventilation rates should be matched to conditions of use SKIN AND EYE PROTECTION Pratective clothing should ba worn Geggles or face shield should be warn SPECIAL STORAGE AND HANDLING PRECAUTIONS Keep from contact with oxi
50. WIRE DRIVE PUSH ROD MOTOR WIRE DRIVE PUSH ROD MOTOR PIVOT PIN HEAD MOLD FACEPLATE HOLDER INJECTOR FACEPLATE Figure 6 Coded wire tag injector mechanism showing push arm assembly 2 pieces and single arm action 1 piece 51 If they are inserted in a wet condition they will seize simply because of the very tight fit of the moving parts 5 The cutter should be installed by paying careful attention to aligning it with the same cutting edge as before cleaning This is done by noting which edge it was on when first removed Each cutter pin has a notch on the top or the bottom and on one side so that one can determine proper alignment by the position of the notch and by the plus or minus switch on the control box Put the screws back in the cutter 6 Slide the needle carrier back into the cutter motor assembly Place the drive arm back into the socket on the needle carrier and put the screw back on Carefully position the face plate back on if not done carefully the plate can bend the needle Continue with additional assembly details as outlined in the NMT Instruction Manual Appendix A Le Machine is then loaded with blank wire put in the on mode and run several times to make sure it is not jamming If it is jamming take it apart and put it back together again as this action usually solves the problem Keep a record of edges on the cutter and of the number of cuts per edge in order to get the mo
51. Y MKII MKIII CONVERSIONS Add half length tag capability to MKII Injector 1 Insert tube for 2 QCD 1 2 Length Tag Upgrade Field Sampling Detector PORTABLE WATER PUMP with accesssories for use with QCD US 14 300 00 9 000 00 5 300 00 3 100 00 4 000 00 4 900 00 8 600 00 11 000 00 Quotation 450 00 500 00 1 400 00 850 00 260 00 850 00 140 00 290 00 450 00 400 00 PORTABLE GENERATORS Contact us for advice regarding portable generators for use in remote tagging operations QUANTITY DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE Telex 287944 NWMT UR FAX 206 468 3844 Tax D No 22 4935793 fas Northwest Marine Technology Inc O Shaw Isiand Washington 98286 206 468 3375 EXPORT PRICE LIST TAGGING EQUIPMENT RENTAL TAGGING UNIT MKIV Rental INJECTOR ONLY MKIV Rental QUALITY CONTROL DEVICE MKIV Rental FIELD SAMPLING DETECTOR Rental WAND DETECTOR Rental TUBULAR DETECTOR 2 5 Inch Rental 4 Inch Rental 6 Inch Rental ELECTRONIC FISH EGG COUNTER Rental RENTAL TERMS 1 One month minimum rental months 2 Prices are FOB Shaw Island 1 January 1991 US 1950 00 month 1275 00 month 700 00 month 400 00 month 500 00 month 600 00 month 1000 00 month 1300 00 month 13 of purchase price month lower rates available on lease of 10 or more 3 Purchase option 90 of the rental payments can be appties toward the purchase price Purchase price will be the published
52. a U shaped cross section and should pass within easy reach of each of the fin clippers 2 Leg adjustments on the QCDs The legs provided by the manufacturer are about 6 too short creating a back problem for most workers especially those standing The manufacturer can adjust the QCD legs for less than 60 per machine Likewise the height of the tagging table is paramount to taggers comfort and should be considered to be a primary factor governing tagging success 3 Generally the entire coded wire tagging crew should be standing Taggers sitting behind the machines may not be able to reach around and tag the fish adequately due to an awkward arm movement and a slow tagging speed However if the tagging machines are appropriately adjusted for height both taggers and clippers can remain seated For example the tagging machines at some hatcheries are mounted directly on a table at a level where taggers can sit and operate comfortably Most hatcheries have their own tagging table set up in a configuration that is appropriate for them and it is not our intention to encourage unnecessary changes For the benefit of those who are building new tables for an existing operation and for those who are just starting a new operation Appendices C and D are provided as a guide Figures 1 and 2 show a possible tagging table set up for two and three machines respectively For fin clipping which usually involves small sized fish clippers should
53. achine is in the middle of cycling If the wire is not coming out the needle far enough and is sucked back in If a piece of wire is jammed in the wire guide If everything is going too well and you haven t had a problem all day Fixing a jam is a process of elimination The first step is to load the wire again Often this will solve the problem but if the machine jams a second time or if you can t reload examine the cutter edge and check the cut wire for a clean cut Also review your information on how many cuts have been incurred on that edge That is if 112 000 cuts on that edge were recorded chances are the cutter is at fault and you should move to edge two three or four Clean out the jam the cutter and the needle Reload some blank wire and try again If you are not getting a good cut and a minimum of 25 000 cuts are recorded on that side then try a new edge If you try a cutter edge that you know is absolutely new and the machine still jams then it is time to look for another reason Next check the funnel at the back cf the needle If there is the slightest scar or dent in that surface the wire will not feed properly and will cause a jam Take the needle out and examine the funnel surface to see that it is clean and smooth Note that the needle must extend out the back of the needle carrier at least 1 16th of an inch If the needle is flush with the back of the needle carrier the likely reason for jamming is that th
54. adipose fin clipping will expose muscle tissue which can become fungussed and possibly result in long term mortality especially in smolting fish Normally it will take a few days for the injured area to become covered with fungus and form a visible white spot Therefore it is important that the marking supervisor check for deep clips both on the clipping table and in the recovery pens several days later Deep clips sustained during ventral fin clipping may expose the body cavity and kill the fish usually within 24 hours This form of mortality is more immediate compared to the longer term and far less frequent mortality associated with deep adipose clips Although good quality clipping of ventral fins should take priority over any remedial post marking treatment the following treatments may reduce mortality A Malachite Green dip following marking can be used to control fungal growth especially in the event of large numbers of deep clips or multiple clips where the fish are more mutilated e g ventral clips in addition to adipose clips and coded wire tagging Dosages are approximately 1 20 000 or 1 g per 5 Imperial gallons of water for a 10 second dip Such a dip is not recommended as a preferred practise as it is now known that Malachite Green is a carcinogen affecting human health This practice is now illegal in the United States Fungal growth on clipped fish may be controlled also with antibiotics in particular terramycin wherever
55. arking speed The overall pace of the tagging operation should increase only after quality control standards are safeguarded For a two machine coded wire tagging operation and a standard 8 hour work day 14 000 20 000 fish per day is a reasonable rate It is recommended that one hatchery worker be assigned during the marking operation to supervise the supply of fish to markers perform quality control checks summarize data and transfer marked fish back to the rearing containers This person should also be the one ultimately responsible for the success of the marking operation and should at least participate in if not be responsible for the hiring and assessment of the contract markers and the overall performance of the marking contractor Quality control checks involving tag retention fin clip quality fish mortality and speed of tagging are discussed in separate sections below 2 CODED WIRE TAGGING Tag Retention Tag retention checks indicate whether or not the fish are retaining their coded wire tags Both short term and long term tag retention checks should be conducted These are very important as the consequences of high tag losses are substantial D Bailey pers comm DFO Vancouver estimated that it cost at least 30 to grow each fish tag it recover it in the fishery dissect the 36 head and enter the statistical information All of this work and expense is nullified if no tag is found inside the fish to decode In addition
56. ase factors abate the only option left is antibiotic treatment It is recommended that 10 days of terramycin treatment be undertaken after tagging in order to keep other infectious agents reduced until the fish recover G Hoskins Pacific Biological Station pers comm Incorrect tag placement itself usually does not cause immediate mortality although the long term effect of improperly placed tags is unknown However if the tag is placed too deep in the fish that tag will normally come out through the eye socket resulting in both tag loss and possible fish blindness 47 6 SPEED AND EFFICIENCY STANDARDS The overall pace of a marking operation should increase only after quality control standards are safeguarded The first one or two days of marking should focus on training workers to tag and clip properly while closely monitoring tag placement tag loss and mortalities and accepting a lower than normal tagging rate Once quality marking is assured the speed of the operation will improve so that the overall average numbers marked per day will likely be acceptable Minimum accepted speed standards for ventral fin clipping are not provided here specifically since this is an individual variable once quality clipping is demonstrated speed will increase However the supervisor should determine whether or not a worker has sufficient manual dexterity According to questionnaire returns Appendix E the average speed per clipper for sin
57. at group of fish Frequency of Checks The marking supervisor should conduct quality control checks as often as possible and at least four times day clipper or just before morning coffee lunch afternoon coffee and the day s end The supervisor takes a random sample of at least 10 fish from each clipper s recovery basin re anaesthetizes them and checks for ventral fin clip quality Under this system each fin clipper will have at least 40 fish sampled randomly each day from his or her work and checked for fin clip quality This means that given a standard crew size of six clippers a total of at least 240 fish will be re anaesthetized and checked daily A sample greater than 10 fish per clipper is normally unnecessary as poor ventral clips are usually repeated sufficiently often that they are evident in a sample of 10 Sampling 20 fish per clipper rarely changes the outcome of the quality control checks However more frequent checks are very desirable as long as the checks are done at the end of the period when the entire production for each clipper is subject to sampling In general there are never enough quality control checks Count Checks A count check taken by the supervisor is recommended to ensure that both the clipper and the counter provide accurate counts This should be done for each clipper at least twice daily at random times Fish count checks will also serve to discourage competitiveness among clippers to clip more fi
58. ays on in order to sort the tagged from untagged fish If larger fish are being tagged the delay must be set at a longer jet which can push a larger fish through If smaller fish are being tagged the delay can be set at a shorter jet with a very fast action so that the tagger is not slowed down unnecessarily It is recommended to set the delay switch at the highest speed possible that will still enable the tagged fish to be pushed over to the correct side In practice turning the delay screw to the left decreases the duration in which a jet ejects a marked fish so that smaller tagged fish can be pushed over quickly with little water Turning the screw to the right increases the duration up to two or three seconds in which the jet ejects a marked fish Finally the direction of the water jets on the QCD can be adjusted by hand The jet can be moved left right raised or lowered to ensure that the fish goes into the tagged passage with a 99 9 sorting success Watch the fish pass down the system and adjust the jets so that the water first hits the fish on the head then moves down the fish body 57 No Water Jets Sometimes when a tagged fish is dropped through the QCD the click of the solenoid is heard but the fish still passes into the reject bucket In this case the solenoid is probably plugged up and no water jet comes on to force the fish into the other stream the QCD is designed so that the water always runs into the reject bucket
59. cate format tags use the parity position to represent the embedded replicate number there is no dedicated check bit on the replicate format tag In order to give some parity information in the replicate format tag the following convention is used Page Two Replicate Tag Reading Instructions Replicate format tags will only be assigned Data 1 and Data 2 codes which can be represented by an odd number of bits The replicate number position is not considered in the convention Therefore the reader of a replicate format tag should expect to find an odd number of bits in the Data 1 and in the Data 2 positions Please note This does not mean that Data 1 and Data 2 will be odd numbers but rather numbers represented by an odd number of bits Since users will be assigned their usual Agency code this convention does not apply to the Agency field Valid Data 1 and Data 2 codes for replicate format tags are 1 2 4 7 8 1 1 13 14 16 19 21 22 25 26 28 31 32 355 37 38 41 42 44 47 49 50 52 55 56 59 61 62 Reading Convention Since cut tags are slightly longer than a single complete code there is a possibility that two different replicate codes which will always be different will be visible on one tag For tags upon which two replicate codes can be read a rule is needed for selection of the replicate code to be used The rule is necessary to prevent biases resulting from a reader choosing the replicate code which is easiest to read and
60. ch is read as binary 0 At the standard length of 042 this means that there are at least 8 visible mark positions on a tag The logic in the coding system is such that tags as short as 030 guarantee unambiguous data recovery A similar but not identical scheme is used to mark half length or 020 tags Reading instructions for half _ length tags are available on request The data format on a coded wire tag is keyed to the seven bit word which we call the master word This word always the same is unusual in that it contains an extra in between mark i e the word looks like 0011111 The half interval mark between the first and second normal marks is instantly apparent Every tag bears this word although it may start and end in differ ent places e g 1111001 as a result of the random nature of the cutting process To read a coded wire tag find the master word and orient the tag horizon _tally so that the master word reads in the correct direction 00111M Then the remaining data are to be read according to the following conventions 1 The colum labels for the data words are derived from the master word 0 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 MASTER 2 1 COLUMN IDENTIFICATION Ck 32 16 8 4 aJa 2 With the master word on top of the wire and running in the proper direction rotate the tag on its axis so that the master word moves up As the three data words come into view they are in order 1 DATA WORD 1 2 AGENCY CODE 3
61. ck to the fish and allows longer use of the anaesthetic before changing it Good aeration of the anaesthetic solution is also vital since anaesthetized fish cannot pass water over their gills except by opercular movement For this reason dosages should be sufficiently low to allow for opercular movement and a recovery time of less than five minutes Several different anaesthetics are used for tagging the most common being 2 phenoxy 2 phenoxyethanol and MS 222 Tricane methanesulfonate While these and other types anaesthetize fish effectively they differ in chemical composition and elicit different physiological responses in fish These and other concerns are discussed below The reader is also referred to Bell 1967 1987 Bell and Blackburn 1984 Britton 1984 and Turvey and Genoe 1984 2 Phenoxyethanol 2 phenoxy is an oil based drug and therefore must be mixed correctly by pouring it vigorously back and forth five or six times between two buckets This requirement can be a nuisance if the anaesthetic baths are changed every half hour A concern that the oil based drug may cause the injectors to jam is unfounded In fact since the machines are cleaned every 3 or 4 days the choice of anaesthetic does not seem to be a factor in machine jamming It is characteristic of 2 phenoxy that the fish will still twitch after being anaesthetized This can be a problem as the fish may jump away from the clipper s hand or the head mold at a
62. d by Bams 1972 1979 In this case 85 000 Headquarters Creek fry and 77 000 unfed hatchery fry weights approximately 0 24 g were released with AdRV and AdLV fin clips respectively Returning marked adults survived at 1 24 hatchery and 1 19 creek as determined by recovering marked adults from commercial canneries at Vancouver and Namu and from the spawning area Subsequently the published data were re examined for differential regeneration rates of the two fin types Results indicated that the mean regeneration rate was 3 53 for the adipose fin and 1 11 for the ventral fin This indicated a significantly higher regeneration rate for adipose compared to ventral fins over the four brood years of study The study also found that as the marking crew gained experience over the four brood year period the total rate of fin regeneration adipose and ventral fins combined dropped from 9 50 to 1 77 In recent years the Nitinat Hatchery also had an opportunity to examine ventral fin clip regeneration This survey was made easier by very large returns of chum salmon to local waters in 1985 In the 1985 fishery a mark recovery program was initiated in the Area 21 commercial catch to establish the proportion of hatchery fish present MacKenzie MS 1987 Samples taken from high volume conveyor belts showed a high incidence of regenerated ventral fins Number of Regenerated Fins Regenerated Degree of As of All Ventral Fins Regeneration Clips
63. dged as they are the ultimate reason for this manual 3 63 REFERENCES Bams R A 1972 A quantitative evaluation of survival to the adult stage and other characteristics of pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha produced by a revised hatchery method which simulates optimal natural conditions J Fish Res Bd Can 29 1151 1167 Bams R A 1979 Fish marking by fin clipping p 16 In D F Alderdice F E A Wood and D W Narver Eds Salmonid Enhancement Program Preliminary Notes on New Information in Salmonid Hatchery Propagation Can Data Rep Fish Aquat Sci 496 102 p Bell G R 1967 A guide to the properties characteristics and uses of some general anaesthetics for fish Fish Res Bd Can Bull 148 second edition revised Bell G R 1987 An outline of anaesthetics and anaesthesia for salmonids A guide for fish culturists in British Columbia Can Tech Rep Fish Aquat Sci 154 16 p Bell G R and J Blackburn 1984 Anaesthetizing chinook smolts p 70 In D F Alderdice F E A Wood and D W Narver Eds Salmonid Enhancement Program Preliminary Notes on New Information in Salmonid Hatchery Propagation Can Data Rep Fish Aquat Sci 496 102 p Britton E 1984 Anaesthetizing adult salmon p 49 In D F Alderdice F E A Wood and D W Narver Eds Salmonid Enhancement Program Preliminary Notes on New Information in Salmonid Hatchery Propagation Can Data Rep Fish Aquat Sci 496
64. dizing materials SPILL LEAK AND DISPOSAL PROCEDURES Absorb material in vermiculite or other suitable absorbent and place in impervious container Dispose in an approved incinerator or contract with licensed chemical waste dispesal agency Discharge treatment or disposal may be subject to federel state or local la FERIA AMABA A AIDA ADDITIONAL INFORMATION DALE SIDRA DD SS EPZTAMATELI DS WHMIS STATUS Controlled Product TRANSPORTATION For transportation information regarding this material please phone the Eastman Kodak Distribution Center nearest you Rochester NY 716 256 1300 Oak Brook Ik 3123 654 5300 Chamblee GA 406 455 9123 Dallas TX 214 241 1611 Whittier CA 213 945 1255 Honolulu HI 808 833 1661 A AA IA EA A SS SSS SS SS A AA ins tati R 0286 5008 88 4780 4 A AAA AS AAA A A AAA AE IAEA AI S PREPARATION INFORMATION SSBB Ss EAS SSS FS SSAVSS AA Health and Environment Laboratoriss Eastman Kodak Company 343 State Straat Rochestar NY 14650 USA A AAA A A A A A BSH STS SS AA AA AS The information contained herein is furnished without warranty of any kind Users should consider these data only as a supplement to other information gathered by them and must make independent determinations of the suitability and completeness of information from all sources to assure proper usa and disposal of these materials and the safety and health of employees and customers ES DeBRASST
65. e but in reality the operation should be reaching 16 000 to 18 000 per day for a moderately efficient crew Very large fish 15 g and up are tagged more slowly so that minimum speed standards are about 12 000 fish per day for two machines 48 It is assumed that at the above speed standards tagging mortalities and tag losses are closely monitored and kept to a minimum That is speed must be a secondary consideration to the quality of tagging Whenever tag losses reach more than 1 the crew should slow down and correct this problem before continuing The tagging objectives are better served by a team that tags 17 000 fish per day with no tag loss than one that tags 20 000 fish per day with 3 or 4 tag loss 7 DATA RECORDING It is important to keep accurate and complete records of each tagging operation as the tagging proceeds Such records facilitate quality control and enable comparison among hatcheries Based on the author s experience in many different hatcheries records should include tag loss rates mortality rates and tagging speed and efficiency standards These records will allow workers to have a yardstick against which to measure their own performance It is also important to record the numbers of small diseased or otherwise damaged fish that are removed from the tagged population and to adjust the release population accordingly The Enhancement Operations Division has expressed the following concerns to Stock Enhancement
66. e fish and slow on the next with no consistency as to how fast the tag injector is cycling Also the QCD will often start clicking for no apparent teason it will detect one fish but not the next Again in this case the generator may not be providing sufficient power It may be that although the generator is a 3 500 watt unit it needs a tune up or perhaps needs to be run faster in order to reach the 120 V required Since the tagging machines will continue to operate although erratically on low voltage it is sometimes difficult to determine the cause of erratic performance unless there is a voltage regulator on the generator that shows that the output is below the required 115 120 V Head Mutilation After a fish is tagged a half moon shape should be visible with the naked eye at the point where the needle went in rather than a round white hole The latter type of hole indicates that the needle has become blunted with use and perhaps has developed a straight edge instead of an angle Sharpen the needle and increase the angle to provide a good clean entry into the fish head Besides causing a fungus problem a blunted needle will leave an easy exit path for the tag that was just injected Improper Tag Length Grooved rollers can result in the tag being cut off at the wrong length since the tag was not pushed out all the way The correct remedy is to replace the rollers entirely when they get a groove or a rut in them then recheck for cor
67. e quality checks should be performed by both the regular hatchery supervisor and the contractor s marking supervisor It is also best that in such a large operation quality checking be a major part of the marking supervisor s duties The clipping supervisor anaesthetizes fish portions them out to the clippers conducts quality control checks at frequent intervals see below conducts a similar number of fish count checks see below and updates the data records However from a competitive bidding viewpoint contract marking crews usually budget for a marking supervisor who clips half the time in addition to performing quality control checks Whether or not a full time quality control worker should be budgeted for is a matter for the hatchery management to decide Container System Quality control checks are based on the following container system as practised at the Nitinat Hatchery Each fin clipper places his or her clipped fish into a separate recovery basin with a net liner capable of holding up to 1 500 fish A random sample of clipped fish is removed every few hours from each clipper s recovery basin and checked for clipping quality see section below on 41 Frequency of Checks If the quality of fin clipping is satisfactory for the particular batch of fish the supervisor will move these fish to a larger container If the quality is considered unsatisfactory the supervisor has the option of requesting that the fin clipper reclip th
68. e s e e s we we we we we QUALITY CONTROL DEVICE QCD s ee es eee eee Gain Setting 4 we ew ee tw Delay Setting sad ee Denvera No Water Jets oe ow te we we e Pitch Setting ioe 0 CUTTERS due A Ae ia A A e a a at Selecting an Edge s e m a ee we e we we 0 Recording Number of Cuts se eee Cutter Maintenance s 6 eee we KEY RECOMMENDATIONS s ew ew te ew e CODED WIRE TAGGING ss a e e s ew ew tw FIN CLIPPING ee ow tw o CODED WIRE TAGGING AND FIN CLIPPING s 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS s REFERENCES 6 oe ew ew ew tw 0 LIST OF FIGURES Tagging table set up for two machines soas 2 6 so Tagging table set up for three machines s s as soes ss Proper and improper coded wire tag placement Holding and clipping the adipose fin prior to coded wire Cagginigh e ee de de es a Le de Per ner te eg Ja ae Acceptable and unacceptable adipose fin clips Coded wire tag injector mechanism showing push arm assembly and single arm action s ss s 1 s ee ww ws Needle funnel showing new and worn condition Proposed record sheet for cutter use and maintenance LIST OF TAB
69. e scissors should be placed in a small plastic tray containing instrumilk trade name for a lubricating solution for fine instruments This will keep the scissors lubricated and rust free although the scissors are made of stainless steel they will rust at the point where the screw enters and in general will keep them in a clean smooth operating condition At the end of each season the scissors should be cleaned dried and lubricated with a fine machine oil 15 Sharpening of scissors results in an approximately 50 success rate per pair even when sent directly to the manufacturer for this service At least one hatchery has successfully used local services that sharpen hairdressers scissors Prices for resharpening may range from 3 to 6 per pair The scissors surgical iris scissors vary greatly in price from 50 to 135 but all appear to perform equally well regardless of price It is recommended that the DFO purchase clipping scissors in bulk in order to stabilize price and availability Questionnaire returns indicate that a hatchery may replace 5 to 10 pairs annually so that the DFO should consider a pre season purchase of approximately 200 pairs Table 5 shows the number of scissors used and replacement rates at each of the surveyed hatcheries HOW DO I DO IT 1 PREPARE THE FISH Preparing the fish for tagging involves proper fish starving and containing procedures Starving Fish Prior to tagging the fish should b
70. e starved for at least 24 hours and preferably 48 hours Starvation will allow stomach evacuation in the first day resulting in reduced output of ammonia and excretory by products associated with stressful fish handling and tagging Also it is noted that the fish will firm up with starvation Fish that are not starved before tagging have a noticeably softer nose cartilage resulting in increased tag loss For extended tagging operations e g Quesnel Hatchery 850 000 chinook coded wire tagged over a 20 day period low ration feeding and starvation routines must be carefully planned in order to avoid increased tag loss in the fish that are tagged first and undue stress in the fish that are tagged last Containing Fish In organizing hatchery space and activities in preparation for marking two major concerns stand out 1 minimizing fish handling before tagging begins and 2 providing suitable holding and recovery containers during tagging of multiple groups of fish while supplying cool clean water at all times These concerns are discussed below Fish that are not being marked immediately should be kept as comfortable as possible prior to tagging Minimizing fish handling before tagging begins can be done by avoiding disturbing the entire large raceway in order to obtain one dipnet of fish This factor is important given the large numbers of fish tagged each year at a given hatchery For example the Quesnel Hatchery has net pens
71. e to greater use error e g more critical as to concentrations compared to 2 phenoxy which was considered to be more forgiving Specific problems cited with MS 222 dealt with increasing toxicity of the anaesthetic at increasing temperatures and the sensitivity of fish to handling when this occurred The CO gas was considered slow i e the anaesthetized fish were more active compared to fish anaesthetized with 2 phenoxy Both 2 phenoxy and MS 222 provoked skin rashes on occasion and consequently concern for health risks There was confusion regarding dosages The applied concentrations of 2 phenoxy as given in the questionnaire returns varied from 1 1 000 to 1 8 000 compared to the recommended dosage of 1 4 546 MS 222 dosage varied from 34 to 300 mg l with most values in the 50 75 mg l range the recommended MS 222 dosage is 222 264 mg l Anaesthetic baths were changed from 2 to 8 times each day In most cases visual judgements were made on how quickly the fish became immobilized and how scummy the water appeared Maximum soak time averaged 4 5 minutes range 1 15 minutes for 2 phenoxy and 4 minutes range 1 5 8 minutes for MS 222 Maximum recovery times averaged 6 minutes range 2 10 minutes for 2 phenoxy and 4 minutes range lt 1 8 minutes for MS 222 Most tagging operations used water diverted from the regular hatchery water supply inflow and outflow systems However in a few cases pumped river water and
72. e trained properly and that each clipper be taught the proper technique It will be expected that during the first few days of training the clipping speed will be below average but it will increase with time Clipping quality can be controlled with good supervision so that the only variable between crews should be clipping speed as related to previous clipping experience Job Descriptions Taggers Taggers should be experienced They must be able to handle fish properly and recognize correct machine operation and correct tag placement When training new taggers higher tag loss and higher mortalities should be expected 4 Clippers Clippers must be able to handle fish carefully clip the fin properly and size sort the clipped fish It is not mandatory that fin clippers be experienced at the start of the operation They can be trained in one hour to make a quality clip Those unable to do so probably lack sufficient manual dexterity and should be replaced at the end of the day Speed should not be encouraged until high quality clips are regularly obtained Once this occurs speed will increase naturally usually without a loss in clip quality Supervisor The supervisor must ensure that 1 the tagging operation is properly planned and organized 2 the equipment and fish are ready for tagging 3 the personnel are adequately trained and monitored 4 the quality control standards are effectively and consistently in place and 5 the data are
73. e wire cannot feed in i e there is too great a gap between the back of the needle and the front of the cutter Therefore first try a new cutter edge If that doesn t work check the funnel at the back of the needle for scars and at the same time ensure that the needle is protruding the correct 1 16th of an inch If the machine is still jamming examine the rollers Do they have deep ruts that could be causing the roller to slip and not push the tag out properly and instead are possibly sucking the tag back in Check also the drive roller alignment adjustment and replace rollers if necessary If jamming continues look at how far the wire is coming out Every time a new needle is put in check the setting on the tag depth units and tens since every needle is a slightly different length Also ensure that the tag is just falling off the end of the new needle when the machine is in the interrupt mode If after all the checking the machine still jams the problem is more serious Change the cutter one last time This final point is important Consider a machine jam where the machine would tag five fish and then jam although everything was cleaned and replaced 54 3 or 4 times As it turned out the brand new cutter was faulty but because it was new no fault was suspected until the very end Chances are that everything else was fine but at that point all the other pieces were changed anyway Therefore do not give up until the cutter
74. eeks each year one season or year of experience could be interpreted in different ways since the level of expertise depends on which marking experience was provided Note that six of 18 responding hatcheries had marking staff that worked only at their particular hatchery In 14 of 20 hatcheries marking standards were based on senior staff experience rather than on literature standards or manufacturers recommendations Clearly the marking experience of individual staff members was considered to be the most important training tool 4 Training time for new taggers varied greatly from 1 2 hour to 2 days Similarly a wide variation existed in the frequency and technique of quality control Usually the hatchery staff relaxed quality control standards to normal levels after 2 to 3 days of tagging Anaesthetic Techniques The most commonly used anaesthetics for coded wire tagging and fin clipping were MS 222 and 2 phenoxy Most hatcheries 15 of 19 had tried anaesthetics other than 2 phenoxy and MS 222 Thus carbon dioxide gas and Quinaldine were also mentioned but were usually not the preferred drug Number of Hatcheries Responding Preferred Anaesthetic Coded Wire Tagging Fin Clipping MS 222 9 9 2 phenoxy 5 8 CO 1 1 No preference 1 1 Opinions regarding the commonly used anaesthetics varied The 2 phenoxy was viewed as a product that would either gum machines or lubricate them The MS 222 was considered susceptibl
75. el of 15 Therefore in order to maximize long term tag retention it is recommended not to tag below 1 8 g for chinook and coho Reaching the minimum size of 0 8 g can be a problem for chum salmon as chum fry are frequently released before they reach this size Often when chum are held until the tagging size is reached they begin to smolt which may prohibit their marking One effective strategy used at the Pallant Hatchery consists of holding chum fry in seapens until tagging then transferring them to fresh water for coded wire tagging and fin clipping and finally returning them to salt water for recovery Fish over 20 g should not be coded wire tagged However they often are especially in the case of overwintered coho in order to avoid significant overwintering mortality Such large fish take much longer to tag with considerably more stress to the fish and show higher tag losses For example 25 000 large fish will require two full days to tag using a 2 machine 6 person crew set up compared to 1 2 days required to tag smaller 2 5 g fish using the same crew and set up However while it is generally recommended to tag fish earlier and at a smaller size whenever possible it is cautioned that this approach will require greater numbers of fish especially coho to be tagged to accommodate overwintering mortality This approach will also reduce the confidence level in estimating mark ratio at release due to the uncertainty in estimating po
76. ensure high quality marking at all facilities This publication will hopefully evolve into a comprehensive marking manual for use at all facilities 1 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report is to describe the best practical methods for coded wire tagging and adipose and ventral fin clipping These types of marks are used to identify the vast majority of marked Pacific salmon stocks Marked salmon recoveries form the basis of commercial and sport salmon fishery Management hatchery production strategies experimental design and international negotiations It is critical that marking be performed with precision and care so that mark mortality fin regeneration and tag loss rates are minimized To achieve this goal marking equipment and crews must be efficiently organized and managed There is some evidence that current juvenile fish handling and marking procedures are not providing adequate recovery data from adult fish Surveys showed that from 10 to 15 of adipose clipped salmon in the Mark Recovery Program did not contain coded wire tags while in one test approximately 75 of adult fish with stubby adipose fins did contain coded wire tags J Thomas J O Thomas and Associates Vancouver pers comm Furthermore of the chum ventral fin clip marks recovered in the Nitinat fishery in 1986 approximately 25 had regenerated to at least 25 of full size and a further 24 marks regenerated to 50 of full size MacKenzie MS 1987 Clearly co
77. eparation of hemoglobin from red blood cells and therefore impair the blood s ability to transport oxygen We are not aware of any studies specifically dealing with pro longed exposure at low concentrations Therefore it is suggested that you take precautions to minimize direct contact with this material until more information becomes available I hope this information is helpful Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance Sincerely Jacqueline A Fox Clinical Toxicology Health and Environment Laboratories JAF ttt Enc EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY 343 STATE STREET ROCHESTER NEW YORK 14650 MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY 343 State Street Rochester New York 14650 For Emergency Health Safety and Environmental Information call 716 722 5151 For all other purposes call 800 225 5352 in New York State call 716 458 4914 Date of Revision 01 27 89 Kedak Accession Number 904862 SS HSSaS OF KH SHeS ST SSSA AAA SA E MASS SSeS HSS SSRIS HSS see sera PRODUCT INFORMATION SERA SS HS SS SK ABAEAARK ST ITSHHKTSSBSEBEGL So SS SSM SOS aii Product Name 2 Phenoxyethanol Synonym s Ethylene Glycol Monephenylether Preduct Use Laboratory and research chemical Formula CB H10 02 CAT No s 114 3155 117 5207 117 5215 117 5223 117 5249 117 5256 117 5264 137 5266 169 4165 182 1446 Chem Nos 04861 Kodak s Internal Hazard Rating Codes R 1 S 3 F 1 C 0 Manufacturer Supplier Ea
78. er end of the clear tubing and attach it underneath the table with a hose bracket SP The amount of loop in this hose will determine the rate at which the water drains into a bucket under the table The larger the loop the slower the draining The water coming down the transfer troughs now drains through this hose into buckets located under the tagging table One bucket is for holding fish just prior to marking and the other bucket is for holding the unusually small or defective fish At this stage each side of the tagging table has a fresh aerated water supply Saw horses can be used to support the tagging table Make sure the table height is comfortable for the taggers Buckets The buckets consist of 5 gallon white plastic containers each with a 2 x 4 hole cut out on each side near the top of the bucket Perforated aluminum riveted over the holes works well to cover these openings allowing water to escape Additional Information The author T Nichols will gladly provide additional detailed instructions regarding the construction of a sorting grading table and any additional information on the construction of sorting troughs for use with the tagging table Please do not hesitate to call Thyra Nichols 245 7685 A video showing the construction and operation of a tagging table is also available from the author TAGGING TABLE Standard 3 4 inch hose fitting Transfer troughs for passing size sorted eo Anaesth
79. eratures at other locations would kill the fish However the Hartley Bay fish are hatched and reared at high water temperatures and are released into a warm water lake In contrast 5 chinook at Quesnel Hatchery are reared in cold water and have a maximum tagging temperature of only approximately 12 C At more southerly hatcheries it may be possible to tag chinook safely at 15 C or 16 C Therefore each hatchery should conduct its own experiments to determine the critical temperature for tagging under site specific conditions Table 1 When determining the critical temperature for each site and species it is important to assess the past history of tagging operations to determine the actual temperatures at marking the mortalities at that time and whether or not differences in the daily mortalities coincided with even a slight change in temperature If it becomes necessary to tag fish at water temperatures higher than the considered maximum it is especially important not to clip too deep as this will guarantee fungus growth on the fish Furthermore the hatchery management should consider increasing the numbers of fish tagged in order to compensate for expected higher than normal mortalities In locations and at times of the year when warm water temperatures may create handling and tagging problems variation in the daily timing of tagging may help avoid working in the heat of the day For example tagging shifts from 5 00 am to 11 0
80. ery rapidly especially when operating outdoors in warm weather A temperature change of 1 2 C is normally within operational limits but beyond this level the anaesthetic solution must be changed Recirculating water is primarily intended to maintain a constant temperature but such water often heats up nearly as much as standing water as indicated by thermometer checks A thermometer should be kept at the bottom of the anaesthetic bath and in each of the clipping basins In addition to temperature checks conduct pH and dissolved oxygen checks hourly in the anaesthetic bath Buffer with sodium bicarbonate when necessary and ensure that all anaesthetic bath water is aerated 3 Receiving water Receiving water for tagged fish also should be checked for dissolved oxygen pH and temperature In particular water in small receiving containers should be aerated If water testing is not done any evidence of stressed fish should initiate water testing and immediate corrective action Other Factors Assuming that the anaesthetic procedure deep clips and water quality are not a problem a comparison of daily pre and post tagging mortalities should indicate whether or not a disease factor is affecting fish health This step is necessary since severity of the disease may be aggravated by the added stress of tagging and possibly high water temperatures e g 14 15 C If tagging cannot be postponed until water temperatures decline and or dise
81. esthetic Basin Tagging Basin Clipping Basin e Drain hole Tagging table set up for three machines top view Standard 3 4 inch hose fitting 02 21 Hand cream and plastic gloves should be made available to markers providing their use does not hinder the marking performance In the author s experience most markers who have tried these aids do not like them however this option should be made available Counters used in ventral fin clipping should be cleaned and oiled regularly and checked for accuracy and ease of operation To keep the counters dry and prevent their rusting each counter should be enclosed in a small plastic sandwich bag and the bag closed firmly These bags are inexpensive and can be changed daily or more often as required 3 PREPARE THE MACHINES Unit Assembly Coded wire tagging machine units consist of three principal components the tag injector the quality control device QCD and the power supply The system is shipped essentially ready to operate providing a few simple assembly steps are followed Note that the following instructions relate to Model MKIII tagging machines and may differ somewhat from Model MKIV instructions 1 Plug the power supply into a 3 wire 120V AC supply line use of a grounded supply line is vital The system may be operated from batteries or a generator by using an adapter 2 Run a large ground wire at least 14 gauge from the post on the power supply to a g
82. etic fish neg pein Basin Tagging This clipping basin Machine sits on top of the tagging table Tagging Basin Clipping Basin a Drain hole Figure 1 Tagging table set up for two machines top view Am APPENDIX D FIN CLIPPING TABLE DESIGN CRITERIA from Chilliwack River Hatchery FIN CLIPPING TABLE DESIGN CRITERIA The following is an operating description of a fin clipping table used at the Chilliwack River Hatchery Appendix Figure 1 illustrates such a table which can accommodate five clippers This is an efficient system which does not require an excessive work area X Each clipper has two sinks one of which is fitted with a net liner where anaesthetized fish are placed for clipping After clipping the fish are placed in the second sink for recovery From there they pass down a drain pipe to a trough located behind the clipping table Fish from each clipper are segregated using deep net liners within th s trough This set up enables the quality control worker to monitor individual clippers Note that the worker who performs the quality control checks and count checks also anaesthetizes the fish and distributes them among the clippers At no time does the quality control worker disturb the clippers in any way Blueprints for constructing a fin clipping table can be obtained from the Chilliwack River Hatchery SCALE 1 20 Appendix Fig 1 Diagram of a fin clipping table accommodating five clippers APPEND
83. f it is desired to maintain stocks of a species separately the above table can be used to calculate the sample size Check the fish for tags with a tag detector as they are collected for the sample and record the number of fish both with and without tags Do not remove or re tag fish which are not tagged Conduct the final tag retention check on the whole sample 4 weeks minimum 3 weeks after the last group of tagged fish was added to the sample This may mean retaining the sample for a short time after the rest of the group has been released As you conduct the tag retention check you should also count and record the number of fish which are carrying a tag but not carrying a recognizable adipose clip Pooling all marks in this way will generate a single long term tag loss rate for the entire species with each tag code having the same tag loss rate This is the tag loss rate you should use in the release reports For operational purposes you will probably want to continue your 24 hour retention checks to ensure that taggers are maintaining tag placement and general tag quality standards At a tag loss rate greater than 2 it is unlikely that a random sample of the total fish size range is tagged In the author s experience a 0 5 tag loss rate is a normal performance standard and a zero tag loss or 100 tag 38 retention should be the ultimate goal of taggers In reality many hatcheries report considerably higher tag loss rates e
84. f pipe are attached to the 45 degree angle a depth of about 4 This allows for a smoother ride down the pipes Pipe supports The troughs are supported on the tagging table using 90 degree plexiglass supports cut out as shown Trough Support Pipe sits wa Side View Screw hole Each trough should have two supports on the table one about 3 tall and the other about 2 tall These supports are placed under the troughs as needed one support usually about two feet from the end where the hose hook up is located and the other near the angle In addition to these table supports two larger supports 12 x 9 are required one at each table end Pipe sits Screw hole 3 All supports are attached to the table using bolts and wing nuts for easy removal Having accomplished the above steps the tagging table is now set up and hooked up to hoses Where does the water go you ask As mentioned above each tagging basin requires a 4 hole drilled into it Fig 1 Be careful to position this hole away from the tagger s pick up point Next take a 5 long piece of stiff black plastic piping that fits through the drain hole and attach it to a 3 foot section of clear plastic piping in diameter a hose clamp works well The 5 long piece of piping can be raised or lowered through the drain hole to adjust water height to the tagger s preference You may need to silicone around the drain hole to avoid heavy water leakage Take the oth
85. fin clipping technique see section above on Fin Clipping Hand Movement The two most commonly encountered problems in adipose fin clipping are clips that are too deep or too shallow Too deep a clip will be visible as a white spot in the clipped area indicating that some skin was taken off Fig 5 Since any scalping of the back of the fry may result in fish mortality such clipping should be discontinued A proper clipping technique will not eliminate deep cuts completely but will reduce their incidence to perhaps 10 to 20 fish per day instead of 15 20 of the total group or in one documented case over 50 of the fish tagged Too shallow a clip will appear as a peak or a bump of an adipose fin left on the clipped fish and will be visible when the fish is turned sideways Fig 5 The most common problem is to leave a tip at the anterior part of the adipose fin Such an incomplete clip especially on small fish will likely result in regeneration Adipose Fin Regeneration The degree of regeneration of an incompletely clipped adipose fin is still unclear At the Capilano Hatchery it appears that coho fry coded wire tagged but left with a considerable bump on the fin have matured to adults with the adipose fin remaining as a large bump without any apparent regeneration However since no control studies were conducted to identify how many fish with 39 Table 6 Comparison of tag loss and fish mortality rates considered accep
86. for different types of fin clipping Individual clippers have their own preferences as to what they find easiest to handle Therefore a variety of scissor blade lengths should be made available to clippers so that they can choose a pair that is easiest for them to handle The sharpness of scissor tips is a factor to consider Scissors used only for adipose fin clipping should have blunted tips Otherwise if clippers are careless they may easily stab themselves or the fish More importantly scissors with blunted points survive longer when accidentally dropped since they bend and break less easily in the course of a tagging program each worker will drop the scissors two or three times On the other hand scissors that are used for ventral fin clipping require sharp points to clearly separate the fins Clippers that are seated are less likely to drop the scissors and damage them It is important that during the clipping program each pair of scissors be stored separately This is because each pair is slightly different and clippers become used to a certain pair of scissors because of the specific cutting holding and other scissor characteristics If the scissors are switched around each day the clippers must relearn how to best use and hold a new pair often resulting in deep or incomplete clips The precaution of storing each pair of scissors separately becomes an important factor when considering the clipping quality At the end of each day th
87. g 4 5 Table 6 and are apparently unaware that they could do better It is important that the reasons for the higher tag loss rates be examined and understood since most factors e g correct fish sorting correctly sized head molds tag placement checks frequent tag loss estimates are under the control of the tagging crew and can be easily corrected once the problem is identified 3 ADTPOSE FIN CLIPPING Clip Checking Both the supervisor and the taggers should check adipose clips constantly and alert the clippers immediately of any problems The tagging supervisor should check the adipose clips visually by taking fish out of the taggers basins prior to coded wire tagging or if possible from the sorting troughs so that individual clippers can be identified Adipose fins are best inspected by placing an anaesthetized clipped fish in a water filled vial holding it up to a light source and viewing with a naked eye or through a magnifier The taggers can check for poor clips during the tagging process Although deep clips are usually not apparent to the taggers peaks or bumps of adipose fins will often be noticed when glancing at the anaesthetized fish in the basin prior to tagging Determination of Good and Poor Adipose Clips A good adipose clip is one which is cut neither too deep nor too shallow and where no evidence exists that the fin was ever present when viewed under a dissecting microscope or through a magnifier For correct
88. gested that our current tag retention sampling is inadequate Studies from other agencies have indicated that we should be sampling a minimum of 500 and if possible up to 2 000 marked fish depending on the tagged population size and that the long term tag retention checks should be conducted no sooner than one month after Vaan 37 tagging Recommended sample sizes for each species and tagging block i e all tag codes pooled are as follows Total Tagged Population Recommended tagged fish only with Number of Tagged Fish to all tag codes for one Retain for Long Term Tag species pooled Retention Check 10 000 500 20 000 1 000 30 000 1 500 40 000 or greater 2 000 We would like to begin incorporating more rigorous long term tag retention check procedures for all species receiving CWT s A suggested sampling regime is to pool a portion of each day s tagging from each tagger in a small container held separately from the rest of the population in e g a Capilano trough or a small floating net pen in the raceway Note that a separate container for each tagger and day is not required Rather all of these subsamples can be pooled together to provide a larger composite sample in the one separate container For a given species all tag codes and stocks can be pooled to make up the sample but the representation of each tag code should be proportional to that tag code s representation in the total tagged population I
89. gle clips is approximately 600 per hour and for double clips i e adipose ventral is 400 per hour Unlike the fin clipping programs coded wire tagging is a team effort and some speed and efficiency standards are appropriate No of No of No of Number of Fish Machines Taggers Clippers CWTed per Day 1 1 2 6 000 10 000 2 2 4 14 000 20 000 3 3 6 26 000 28 000 The primary factors affecting the tagging speed are the experience of the crew especially the taggers the level of teamwork they exhibit and the speed of the tagging machines themselves Minimum marking standards should be about 1 000 fish tagged per machine per hour or about 7 000 fish daily for a one machine operation and 14 000 fish daily for two machines Note that this standard will be reasonable for some operations but not for others In particular a hatchery that undertakes tagging for only one or two months every year will have difficulty assembling an experienced crew and maintaining optimum tagging conditions By comparison a contract tagging crew that is operating perhaps eight or nine months every year should be expected to show a greater degree of efficiency It is possible for an experienced crew to reach an average of 8 500 9 000 fish per day per machine and thus tag 18 000 fish per day using two machines while still maintaining 100 tag retention Smaller fish 2 g to 10 g can be tagged at a minimum speed of 14 000 per day for two machines as abov
90. h resulted in temperature increases To counteract this problem blocks of ice were placed in the recirculating system This measure however resulted in considerable uncontrolled temperature change At the Robertson Creek Hatchery a water chiller was purchased which can keep the anaesthetic bath water at a constant temperature ideally 8 10 C However at this hatchery warm water temperatures are a constant problem As a result chilled anaesthetic water may be considerably below the ambient hatchery water in which the fish were reared and to which they may be returned resulting in a secondary temperature shock In spite of the above problems it is clear that a controlled temperature water bath is vital for the use of dissolved carbon dioxide as a fish anaesthetic Recommendations on the Choice of the Anaesthetic Overall MS 222 is recommended as the best workable anaesthetic for coded wire tagging by virtue of its ease of mixing low cost short fish immersion time and minimal exposure for the tagging team Where the marking set up allows and at those locations which have a system that can be adapted carbon dioxide gas provides a viable alternative This method should be explored by each facility individually Human Health Hazards Human health hazards are a further consideration when recommending one anaesthetic over another Both 2 phenoxy and MS 222 have residual effects to the extent that adult fish anaesthetized with these dr
91. h stays attached inside each injector box to record all information pertaining to that machine Figure 8 Proposed record sheet for cutter use and maintenance Table 7 Comparison of numbers of machines cutters cutter use and machine downtime at the surveyed hatcheries as determined from questionnaire returns Number of Machines No of Spare Cutter Estimated Down Hatchery Used Borrowed Spares Cutters Monitoring cuts cutter time Big Qualicum 2 o e 2 Y 200 400 000 2 Capilano 3 0 1 2 3 Y 150 000 15 30 min day Chehalis 2 1 1 2 N 150 000 10 15 Chemainus Chilliwack 2 1 1 I 2 Y 100 000 2 5 Clearwater 3 0 1 1 N 200 300 000 3 5 Conuma 2 1 1 2 N 500 000 2 4 Eagle 4 1 0 5 Y 100 000 Inch 2 8 0 2 N 400 000 lt 4 Kitimat 2 0 0 2 Y 100 250 000 approx 1 Little Qualicum 2 2 o 0 1 5 Nitinat 2 0 0 2 Y 110 200 000 1 2 hr day Pallant 2 1 1 2 N 15 30 min day Puntledge 2 o o 2 N 500 000 1 2 hr day Quesnel 5 4 1 2 4 Y 100 400 000 Quinsam 2 e 1 2 Y 240 000 Robertson 3 0 1 2 N 5 10 Shuswap 1 1 o 1 N 10 15 Snootli 2 1 1 7 N 50 000 1 over 20 days Spius 1 3 0 1 N 4 6 hr 20 days Tenderfoot 2 2 1 2 N 5 10 a Keeping a record of the number of cuts per cutter edge A 09 61 KEY RECOMMENDATIONS The following key recommendations should be followed at all hatcheries to ensure consistent high quality marking i CODED WIRE TAGGING 1 2 Uti
92. he eye socket resulting in subsequent tag loss Establishing Fish Size Ranges As part of the set up procedure test fish which were previously sorted for size by the clippers are tagged and then killed to verify the correct tag placement i e in the centre of the nose cartilage At this point various sized nose molds are tested to ensure correct tag placement for the likely size range of fish being handled The killed fish are then laid on the table for the crew s reference during fish sorting so that the appropriate fish size for a given nose mold is visible to the entire crew Correct tag placement is also checked at least every two hours throughout the tagging period see section below on Tag Positioning 27 Fish size is an important factor that influences primarily tagging speed and efficiency Fish that are smaller than the optimum 2 5 g size are often harder to hold and handle by the clippers and taggers thereby slowing down the operation Also fish that encompass a relatively wide size range or are unsorted result in inefficient use of the tagging machines That is if one machine is set up to accommodate 60 of the fish and another to accommodate 40 then one tagger remains idle more frequently than the other Optimally when using more than one tagging machine the size range should overlap so that the middle range can be handled by either machine thus maintaining a steady pace throughout For this reason a two machine
93. her 13 hatcheries used fewer than the recommended number of clippers No hatchery used more than one shift of workers in its marking operation 3 Most of the hatcheries had two cutters on hand However 60 of the hatcheries did not keep a record of the number of cuts per cutter edge and the estimated number of cuts per cutter varied from 50 000 to 500 000 Of the three hatcheries that had used the new Tschopp cutters there was no consensus on their superiority or lack of it Each surveyed hatchery kept from three to 30 head molds on site in most cases covering a wide range of fish sizes The majority of the hatcheries had at least some of their head molds custom made rather than supplied by the manufacturer A contractor was solely responsible for setting up the tagging machines in only four of the 20 hatcheries Most hatcheries reported a variety of problems when setting up involving wire jams tag placement power supply water pressure and other items Machine downtime varied from 1 to 15 usually 1 2 hour per day and was attributed largely to machine jamming and dull cutters The machines were evidently fixed by anyone who was able to do so whether hatchery personnel manufacturer or contract staff All surveyed hatcheries used surgical eye scissors for fin clipping and required a total of 203 to 225 pairs per year 10 to 11 pairs per hatchery From one third to one quarter of these scissors were replaced annually 3 or 4 pai
94. improper B coded wire tag placement 29 checks for tag placement at each machine Similarly at another hatchery fish were sorted prior to tagging so that very small fish were graded out The remaining population 90 ranged from 1 5 g to 4 5 g When the tagging operation commenced no further size grading was conducted by the clippers so that the same problem of incorrect tag placement occurred despite two machines operating Random tag placement checks showed that although medium sized fish were tagged correctly they represented only 50 of the population In fact a 48 hour examination showed a 6 tag loss in the overall group In both the above examples the fish were healthy and of an appropriate size for tagging so that no tag losses need have occurred It is imperative for the fin clippers to sort the fish for size during the tagging operation to ensure that fish sizes and head molds are closely matched Failure to do this will result in poor tag placement and increased tag loss rate We recommend the following measures to correct tag placement Le If the nose tag is not placed squarely in the centre of the nose cartilage but rather is too high or too low change the head mold A placement that is too high usually indicates too big a mold while a placement that is too low usually indicates too small a mold 2 If the tag is centered but placed too deep pull out the head mold accordingly Bie If the tag is placed too sha
95. ish should be checked most frequently One fish should be sacrificed hourly for each machine and the sampled fish laid out for better size referencing while sorting see also section above on Tag Positioning AGREE 35 2 Tag retention It is important to check for tag retention every 24 hours and correlate tag loss rates with each machine Coded wire tag retention estimates serve to evaluate the quality of the tagging operation while it is in progress rather than just to adjust the numbers of tagged fish released Tag retention estimates are an important part of quality control on each machine and tagger and provide a fast indicator of tagging success 3 Fin clip quality For adipose fin clipping both the marking supervisor and the taggers should check clips constantly and make the clippers aware of any problems immediately For ventral fin clipping a minimum of 10 fish per clipper four times per day should be checked visually Ideally this monitoring will require one full time person conducting constant quality control checks 4 Fish mortality Daily fish mortalities can vary from several hundred to one or two per marker In most cases no mortalities need occur if proper fish handling and anaesthetic techniques are used A marking operation that has from 50 to 100 mortalities per day indicates a problem and the reasons should be closely examined It is therefore important to keep an accurate ongoing count of mortalities 5 M
96. k bit to check the agency code and both data words This has the effect of allow ing four times the previous number of codes for each agency i e 256 while preserving the ability to detect any single bit error Some conventions are necessary to avoid confusion in data management 1 New format half length tags will be identified by a prefix B before the agency code on the tag labels For example new format half length tags for the State of Alaska will show Agency B4 2 For as long as possible several years at the present rate of use new format half length tags will carry either Data 1 or Data 2 between 8 and 15 thus making their identification implicit 3 The single parity check bit in the eights column of the agency word is set according to the following rule The sum of the marks ones in the two data words and the agency word including the parity check bit is always odd In the example there are three marks in Data 1 four marks in Data 2 and one mark in the agency word The sum is eight thus the parity bit is also marked to make nine FRNLUALy 2 36 THEORETICAL ESTIMATE OF WORKER EXPOSURE TO PHENOXYETHANOL DURING FISH MARKING PROCEDURE GIVEN Anesthetic solution 7 ml phenoxyethanol 5 gallons water 300 parts per million ppm Procedure requires one hand to be either immersed or wet with solution for say 8 hours day actually in practice likely only the fingers up to the second
97. lank spool low cost wire for setting up machines and negotiating breakdowns and jams these spools are normally available from the manufacturer 6 Tool box 7 Touch switch dampness will make it sticky and sunlight will cause it to expand 14 Generally machine jams can be repaired on site by changing the cutter edge installing new rollers adjusting wire length etc However in about 25 of the cases the problem involves the tag injector control box In such cases at least 10 days will be required to ship out the control box for repairs Therefore if possible a spare control box for the tag injector should be on site cost 2 000 U S from manufacturer Similarly it is worthwhile to have a spare control box for the QCD cost 600 U S Although the QCD control boxes fail less often than the tag injector control boxes it is just as vital to keep the QCD operating properly at all times Scissors There should be twice as many scissors as there are clippers That is four clippers should have at least eight pairs of scissors on site and preferably 12 pairs The reason is that often half the scissors do not work as for example when they are sent out for resharpening over the winter and are not tested right away for success rate Also some scissors may have to be sent out for resharpening in the middle of the clipping operation The length of scissor blades does not appear to be a determining factor regarding scissor suitability
98. ld be taken out and cleaned properly by removing it from the unit soaking in isopropyl alcohol drying thoroughly and replacing it into the unit The slash mark on the cutter core should be in exactly the same position as when the cutter came out When the machine is not in active use the cutter should be taken out and cleaned before storage Note that the cutter pin and sleeve are a matched set and should not be intermixed during cleaning and storage The cutter originally arrives from the manufacturer in a cardboard box packed with styrofoam and should be returned to that box for storage Make a note on the box which tagging machine the cutter came from and refer to the maintenance log to indicate which cutter edge was used last and what the tag count was when the cutter was removed 59 Hatchery Tenoler foot Ck Machine Name Number A Date Tag Injector Comments l ar ib 8 481043 new cuter installed edge 2 309946 new rollers installed needle reamed ib 18 346699 cuter changed to edge 2 57056 2 cuts obtained of edge 1 Hay 31 leq 365704 new needle installed Sept 4 189 449443 cutter changed to edge 3 103 24 cuts obtained off edge 2 4 1918 6335 Machine cleaned winterizrd Cutter ko Le re installed on edz This record sheet has been filled out to give an example of how the records could be kept This or perhaps a different format can be adopted The important point is to have some record sheet whic
99. lihood of regeneration If a portion of the fin was left unclipped it was possible that the fin would regenerate in such a way that it was obvious it was clipped 43 Hence a partial clip could be just as effective a mark as having the whole fin missing However the degree to which the clip counts should be adjusted was questionable i e should 25 of the counts be discounted if 1 4 of the fin remains On the other hand with a good poor system if a clip is judged as poor it should be clearly discounted Thus during a quality control check if 1 in 10 fish is judged to be a poor clip then the number of fish clipped in the 2 hour batch that was sampled is adjusted down by 10 This will ensure that at least 90 of the fish are known to have good clips with no chance of regeneration Therefore if a clipping team clips 56 000 fish but quality control checks indicate an overall 10 incidence of poor clips the records will show that only about 50 400 fish were definitely released with good clips Fi egeneration Data on fin regeneration rates are scarce at least partly due to the time lag between juvenile marking and adult recovery Unlike coded wire tagging where tag losses can be monitored after 24 hours fin clippers must wait a period of years to obtain any tangible evidence of their clipping effectiveness At this time two examples of fin regeneration can be considered The effectiveness of pink salmon fin clipping was examine
100. lize a 2 1 clipper tagger ratio Remove a random sample of the fish population for tagging without selecting for size During tagging size sort the fish in order to obtain the best tag placement on all size ranges This is mandatory when marking random samples l Check for correct tag placement by sacrificing 1 or 2 fish hourly per tagging machine Check for short term tag loss every 24 hours using samples of 100 fish per machine in order monitor the performance of both taggers and machines In addition check for long term tag loss no sooner than one month after tagging monitor a minimum of 500 marked fish sampled randomly in order to generate a single tag loss rate for each tag block for each species use this long term tag loss rate in the release reports Strive for 100 tag retention Average numbers tagged per day should not be less than 1 000 per hour per machine Higher numbers per day can also be achieved When anaesthetizing fish with MS 222 buffer with baking soda sodium bicarbonate However if marking is conducted at water temperatures higher than 14 C do not buffer Have the manufacturer speed up the cycling of control boxes for the tag injectors Obtain from the manufacturer spare control boxes for Model MKIII for both the tag injectors 2 000 and QCDs 1 000 FIN CLIPPING L Provide an adequate supply of good sharp scissors DFO should pre order scissors in bulk before the marking season begins
101. llow push the mold in Mark the position on the mold with a pencil to know where you started from 4 If unsure which head mold is best for a group of fish anaesthetize a random sample of fish and test all the head molds on all the fish sizes Try and fit the fish to the mold sizes available The manufacturer provides nose molds that come with each machine For the majority of CWTed fish the following molds are appropriate Fish Size Head Mold 0 7 1 0 g 700 1b 2 0 3 08 200 1b 3 0 4 58 120 1b 10 0 20 0 g 30 1b Note that head mold size is stamped in base of mold and that colour of mold may change The following head mold sizes are available from the Northwest Marine Technology 30 Species Stock Head Mold Sizes Coho Chinook 5 10 15 30 65 120 200 550 1100 1b Steelhead 2 3 5 7 11 20 36 80 1b Rainbow 5 8 12 18 27 50 90 200 1b Chum 700 1b Pink 2000 1b Sockeye 60 mm 90 mm length Atlantic 7 9 11 15 25 30 50 100 120 1b Lake Trout 5 8 12 18 27 50 90 1b Walleye 55 65 125 mm length The best head molds are often those that are custom made by the hatchery staff for a particular group of fish Each group of fish especially chinook and coho salmon has its own distinctive head and body shape that differs according to stock and probably other factors as well In the author s experience only about 10 15 of the fish tagged in British Columbia are passed through the manufacturer s head molds the rest are tagged using head
102. lls 1984 103 500 5 00 3 50 4 25 1985 84 200 4 00 2 40 3 20 1985 84 500 5 00 3 00 4 00 1986 102 064 3 03 3 03 3 03 1986 52 786 3 77 3 77 3 77 Spius 1984 267 000 4 00 4 00 4 00 1985 285 000 4 00 3 00 3 50 1986 350 000 5 00 3 50 4 25 Tenderfoot 1984 90 000 2 00 2 00 2 00 1984 112 000 4 00 1 00 2 50 1985 90 000 2 00 2 00 2 00 1985 91 000 4 00 1 00 2 50 1986 98 000 4 00 1 00 2 50 1986 90 000 3 00 3 00 3 00 NORTH COAST Kitimat 1984 98 715 11 10 10 20 10 65 1984 49 765 8 30 8 30 8 30 1984 49 445 9 30 9 30 9 30 1985 79 698 11 20 11 20 11 20 1985 79 900 10 20 10 20 10 20 1985 50 661 7 80 7 80 7 80 1986 78 784 10 50 10 50 10 50 1986 79 078 9 70 7 40 8 55 1986 53 438 8 80 8 80 8 80 Pallant 1986 40 000 2 50 2 50 2 50 Table 2 Division SOUTH COAST cont d Brood Facility Year Snootli 1984 1984 1985 1985 1986 1986 Big Qualicum 1984 1985 1986 1984 1985 1986 Chemainus Little Qualicum 1984 1985 1986 Nitinat 1984 1984 1984 1985 1985 1985 1985 1985 1986 1986 1984 1985 1986 1984 1984 1985 1985 1985 1986 1984 1985 1986 Puntledge Quinsam Robertson Number Marked 80 731 203 148 76 145 208 402 50 453 209 006 254 000 260 000 216 000 78 630 75 610 80 307 80 000 76 000 75 000 37 464 37 900 36 699 26 557 26 324 26 737 26 249 27 713 52 940 52 942 166 689 646 291 336 441 128 000 227 000 25 000 48 000 181 000 179 000 263 523 211 823 393 705
103. mall size lt 1 g commonly show substantial adipose tip regeneration See also section below on Ventral Fin Clipping Fin Regeneration Therefore while a very minor peak is acceptable anything larger may lead to regeneration and a large peak is not acceptable It is very difficult especially with small fish to reclip properly a second time since this often results in too deep a clip This emphasizes the importance of clipping properly the first time Other Concerns The Enhancement Operations Division has expressed the following concerns to Stock Enhancement Officers regarding adipose fin clipping C Cross DFO Memo December 29 1989 With the exception of steelhead international agreement dictates that adipose clips are ONLY to be used in conjunction with coded wire tags Adipose clips are not to be used as a primary and independent mark If there are fish in a tag group which you feel are too small to tag don t tag or clip them at all Never apply an adipose fin mark except in combination with another fin for chum and pink without attempting to insert a coded wire tag Note however that adipose only fish which result from shedding of coded wire tags are an expected and acceptable component of coded wire tag programs 4 VENTRAL FIN CLIPPING Responsibilities In a fin marking operation where six clippers are involved between 250 and 300 fish will be checked each day for ventral fin clip quality Ideally th
104. marking programs In fact as part of this contract on site evaluations were conducted at nine of these hatcheries and results submitted to the hatchery and division managers A workshop on tagging machine repair was also universally requested The workshop was conducted in 1988 and the results included in this manual About half of the hatcheries used a reference marking manual References that were specifically included in the questionnaires are listed alphabetically below 1 Anon MS 1986 Instruction Manual for Tagging Unit Model MKII Model MKIII Northwest Marine Technology Shaw Island Washington 98262 Telephone 206 468 2340 16 p 2 Duke R C MS 1980 Fish Tagging Mobile Unit Operation Repair and Service Manual Idaho Dept Fish and Game 58 p 5 Jenkinson D W and H T Bilton 1981 Additional guidelines to marking and coded wire tagging of juvenile salmon Can Tech Rep Fish Aquat Sci 1051 24 p Koerner J F 1977 The use of the coded wire tag injector under remote field conditions Alaska Dept Fish and Game Div Commercial Fisheries Juneau Moberly S A R Miller K Crandall and S Bates MS 1977 Mark Tag Manual for Salmon Alaska Dept Fish and Game F R E D Division 56 p APPENDIX F PROPOSED DATA RECORD SHEETS FOR CODED WIRE TAGGING AND FIN CLIPPING C W T DATA SHEET Hatchery Group Health Specie Brood Yr Disease Treatment Dos Cutter Injector Rej Tag Placement Check
105. nd Q tips prior to installing the cutter Insert the cutter assembly Check that a good cutter edge is present Load a spool of blank wire for testing blank wire is available in limited quantities from Northwest Marine Technology Telephone 206 468 3375 Have the wire protrude approximately 3 4 out of the front of the needle Turn the machine on then make 3 or 4 cuts Put the interrupt switch on Push the tag button once this indicates the needle depth into the head mold Push the button a second time and ensure that the tag just falls off the end of the needle This ensures accurate tag placement Any longer or shorter needle depth will result in improper tag placement Ensure the machine settings are appropriate for the needle length Each machine has a 2 number setting for tens and units which describes how far each tag is inserted down the needle and into the fish The tens setting refers to 10 standard half tag lengths i e 0 5 mm x 10 and the units setting refers to half a tag length i e 0 5 mm At a correct machine setting the tag should just fall off the end of the needle when the touch button is pushed twice If this does not happen i e needle depth is too shallow or too deep adjust the tens units settings remembering that each unit number upward or downward is equal to half a tag length forward or backward Normally the settings should be between 47 and 49 Larger needles have been installed in
106. nd included the design and distribution of a marking questionnaire to evaluate the procedures used at Enhancement Operations facilities From the results of this questionnaire hatcheries were selected for visitation by the contractor and in some cases the Scientific Authority Hatcheries were selected based on species geographic location fin clipping versus coded wire tagging established versus new facilities degree of hatchery involvement in marking good and problem hatcheries and visitation opportunity Results and concerns were discussed with the hatchery manager during the visit and followed up by a written evaluation by the contractor to the Scientific Authority The result of the visits questionnaires literature search and the contractor s T Nichols personal experience have been detailed in this marking manual In addition the contractor has included within this manual the results of the Tagging Machine Maintenance Workshop held April 27 1988 as was previously agreed with the Scientific Authority and the workshop organizers Shary Stevens and Pete Campbell This manual is a revised version of a draft which was distributed to hatchery staff for comment It is hoped that additional discussion can result on marking quality guidelines and that these are applied consistently throughout all hatcheries It is hoped that individual hatcheries will add sections unique to their own particular situations as well as recommendations to
107. nhancement Program there were no specific guidelines to ensure high quality and consistent marking at all facilities Procedures were passed on by the staff from the more established facilities and by contract marking with a few contractors who had specialized in this area Written guidelines were scarce but those that existed including Bams 1979 guidelines for fin clipping quality and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Manual Moberly et al MS 1977 were being used Procedures and guidelines varied among facilities and adult returns began to show a wide variation in mark quality that was reflected in the relative percentage of good marks and tag loss rates In 1986 the incidence of regeneration on ventral clipped chum salmon caught in the Nitinat commercial fishery was very high resulting in low hatchery contribution estimates based on marks recovered If hatchery output marking was to provide a basis for estimating hatchery contribution and corresponding fishery management it was clear that procedures and quality control must be both standardized and improved As a result the Bioprogram Coordinator Division awarded a marking evaluation contract to provide advice and guidelines for the improvement of quality of marking programs at Enhancement Operations facilities The evaluation was to be conducted through a review of available information and on site observations The contract work was conducted between July 1 1987 and December 31 1988 a
108. not possible due to the water system design that would place the fish at an unacceptable risk Similarly the manner in which fish are brought into the tagging area e g number of fish in a bucket can be a source of stress its level governed primarily by species fish size water temperature and other site specific factors this concern will not be discussed here In general all the above measures to minimize fish handling should be observed However each hatchery has its own site specific configuration that requires individual assessment The second concern involves holding and recovery containers These should be sufficiently large to contain several hours or a whole day s supply of fish in order to avoid overlapping stresses Fish held in too small a container will be stressed from being moved into the tagging area without having a settling down period before the additional stress of tagging At one hatchery a 2 x 2 holding box was used that had to be refilled with fish every half hour This method resulted in excessive handling in a brief time period and may have affected the long term survival of fish 2 PREPARE THE AREA Tagging Area A comfortable and well lit tagging area is an important ingredient in achieving quality fin clipping and tagging The area should be warm and dry with portable electric heaters made available to individual markers Heaters are also useful for warming hands when working in cold water conditions
109. nt Tagging scheduling should include getting the fish to an optimum tagging size of 2 5 g in such a way as to coincide with natural migration and any other timing factors that the hatchery is considering Table 1 Comparison of maximum water temperatures for marking at the surveyed hatcheries Area Hatchery i Maximum Temperature Ce FRASER RIVER Capilano 14 15 Chehalis 12 Chilliwack 11 Clearwater 14 Inch 13 Shuswap 9 SOUTH COAST Big Qualicum 15 Littie Qualicum 14 Nitinat 10 Puntledge 16 Quinsam 14 Robertson 12 13 NORTH COAST Kitimat lt 12 Pallant 12 13 Snootli 12 Highest temperature that has occurred preferably below 10 C Table 2 Chinook sizes for coded wire tagging at the surveyed hatcheries Brood Number Chinook Weight Division Facility Year Marked Max Min AVE FRASER RIVER Capilano 1984 502 090 8 00 2 50 5 25 1985 126 399 8 00 2 50 5 25 1986 170 998 8 00 1 80 4 90 Chehalis 1984 150 000 1 00 1 00 1 00 1985 200 000 0 80 0 80 0 80 1986 200 000 2 00 1 00 1 50 Chilliwack 1984 92 000 8 00 4 00 6 00 1985 200 000 10 00 3 00 6 50 1986 165 000 10 00 4 00 7 00 Clearwater 1984 260 000 4 00 3 00 3 50 1985 377 000 4 00 3 00 3 50 1986 359 000 4 00 3 00 3 50 Eagle 1984 gt 457 000 3 40 3 20 3 30 1985 359 000 3 50 3 40 3 45 1986 360 000 2 60 2 10 2 35 Inch Creek 1986 47 538 6 00 6 00 6 00 Quesnel 1984 1 123 000 2 50 2 50 2 50 1985 970 000 2 00 2 00 2 00 1986 850 000 3 20 2 10 2 65 Shuswap Fa
110. ntrolling tag loss and fin regeneration is paramount to the success of the marking program FISHERY OBJECTIVES CODED WIRE TAGGING Coded wire tag data from surviving adult salmon have a variety of uses Coded wire tags provide tangible evidence that catchable adult fish were produced by a given hatchery thereby demonstrating effective fish production Tag recovery data are also expanded statistically to derive survival rates from release to adult capture and to adult recovery on spawning grounds so that different production strategies and or experimental groups can be compared Furthermore since coded wire tags identify a mix of stocks within a fishery harvest managers are able to examine the run timing and harvest rates of different stocks and develop improved harvest strategies Ensuring that fish are tagged effectively is an essential part of this information system When a tagged fish is recovered expansion factors are applied to estimate the proportion of tagged fish within the surveyed population and subsequently the tagged proportion within the unsurveyed population of captured fish Different expansion factors are applied to the commercial and sport fleet as survey patterns permit Depending on the application of the data several multipliers can be used so that one tag recovery may represent many more that may be present in the catch Regenerated adipose fins and or high rates of tag loss can confound the recovery system and render m
111. o not expect that to be a constraint in the near future For your information all NMT injectors with serial numbers greater than 200 can be modified ta impiant both standard and half length tags The modification consists of a length selector switch on the contro box and costs 575 00 BINARY CODED TAG FORMAT Data is carried on binary coded wire tags in six binary digit words or numbers Consider the number 1066 It might similarly be called a four HSE word and can be written in colums as follows 1000s 100s 10s ls 22 0 6 6 Said another way it means the sum of 1 thousand no hundreds six tens and six ones Binary digit words or numbers ean be written in columns in the same way 328 16s 8s 4s 28 ls aL J 0 l 0 1 The binary number 110101 thus means the sum of 1 thirty two 1 sixteen 0 eights 1 four 0 twos and 1 one or 110101 binary 53 decimal The binary coded wire tag material is marked with four six digit binary words written lengthwise on the wire 90 apart around its circumference Three of these words carry the data and following them is a seventh digit in each row which is used as an error check as explained below The fourth word is known as the master word and is always the same Its purpose is to mark the beginning of the data words and to identify the direction in which they are to be read The information is carried by notches on the wire spaced 0048 apart Notches are read as binary 1 no not
112. o the hatchery manager It is critical that the tagging supervisor closely communicate with the hatchery management not only to ensure that the marking quality and numbers are achieved but to coordinate the tagging rate with strategies for starving and holding the fish to be marked In this way the tagging and hatchery components can be coordinated to ensure a smoothly run operation For coded wire tagging the ratio of clippers to taggers should be 2 1 or two clippers for every tagger Therefore if three tagging machines are used six clippers are required The importance of a 2 1 ratio is based on the efficient use of the taggers time and also ensures that the clippers have sufficient time to maintain quality clips If the ratio is 1 1 the clipper cannot maintain pace with the tagger Either the clipper must speed up in which case fin clip quality suffers or the tagger must slow down At one hatchery where a 1 1 strategy was used an incidence of 75 poor clips and a marking rate of only 12 000 13 000 fish day was reported for a two machine set up which is at least 4 5 000 below the average rate obtained with a 2 1 clipper tagger ratio using a similar set up Personnel requirements for fin clipping operations do not differ greatly from those required for coded wire tagging except that fin clipping operations are more loosely organized since no need exists to coordinate with machine speeds It is important however that all new personnel b
113. or example presmolts of approximately 2 g size can remain in the MS 222 anaesthetic bath for 30 seconds after the anaesthetic takes effect with no mortalities while smolting fish if not immediately removed will overdose Therefore if during tagging a group of fish is found to be smolting extra care must be taken in their handling and anaesthetic dosage ce EQUIPMENT Tagging Machines The only coded wire tag machines available in British Columbia are provided by Northwest Marine Technology Shaw Island Washington State U S A 98286 Telephone 206 468 3375 or 468 2340 Most surveyed hatcheries have blue MKII or MKIII model machines designed and manufactured by Northwest Marine Technology These machines are several years old and due for replacement The following discussion focuses on these older tagging machines that hatcheries must keep repaired and operable The reader is referred to Appendix A for more detailed information from the manufacturer on machine assembly general use cleaning maintenance and troubleshooting Appendix B provides similar information for machine model MKIV For any coded wire tagging operation the following spare parts are considered essential 1 Control boxes for tag injector and QCD see below 2 Head molds large selection at least 2 of each size for two machines 3 Power cable 4 Power pack 5 Tag injector parts Wire guide Cutter i Set of drive rollers At least 3 or 4 needles B
114. pe angles 90 degree plexiglass supports for transfer troughs with bolts and wing nuts for attachment to the tagging table 5 long piece of stiff black plastic piping 3 foot section of clear plastic piping in diameter Hose couplings Hose clamps PVC primer glue and silicone Saw horses 5 gallon buckets and perforated aluminum to cover the drain holes Construction see Fig 1 Tagging table The tagging table is constructed using one sheet of plywood with a 4 wood edge all around Six holes are cut out of the table which is then fibreglassed to prolong its life and facilitate keeping it sterile Of the six cut holes five are 11 in diameter and will accommodate three clipping basins and two tagging basins The sixth hole is 13 in diameter and will accommodate the anaesthetic basin Clipping basins Each clipping basin consists of a Rubbermaid Sink Basin 12 in diameter and fitted right into the 11 diameter hole cut in the table Each clipping basin has a net liner its rim constructed by cutting off the top of an extra Rubbermaid Sink Basin also 12 in diameter to 2 a depth of approximately 2 This surface is then sanded with fine sandpaper Sufficient netting is cut out to allow for a 4 overlap to the underside of the basin top The netting is then glued to the basin top using contact cement s In addition to the above three clipping basins fitted into the tagging table a similarly cons
115. price in effect at the time notice to exercise the purchase option is received by Northwest Marine Technology Inc Rental payments used to compute the credit toward the purchase price must be from a single cons piece of equipment Telex 287944 NWMT UR ecutive rental period for each individual FAX 206 468 3844 Tax I D No 22 1935793 Northwest Marine Technology Inc Head Mold Fabrication Obtain a specimen which best represents the size and head shape of the group of fish to be tagged It is best to use a fresh specimen but one preserved in formalin can be used if necessary Dry the external surface as much as possible for example blot with paper towels Using an injec tor needle with the nylon ball removed impale the specimen along the direction of desired needle penetration during tagging Fig 1 For most salmonoids better positioning accuracy is obtained by indexing from just the upper jaw The mouth of the fish will be open during tagging with only the upper jaw fitting the head mold The head moid thus usually is made from a specimen from which the lower jaw has been removed Prepare the casting jig with a head mold base This is done by first filling the two grooves in the head mold base with modeling clay to seal in the casting resin Trim off any excess with a sharp knife Put another smail lump of clay inside the head mold base to seal the area around the needle then push the head mold base onto the casting
116. ption rate is unknown however it seems prudent to protect the hands from contact with the solution if practical and feasible N B The vapour exposure of 2 phenoxyethanol is low enough such that the amount of the chemical which evaporates into the air from the anesthetic solutions would be insignificant December 19 1986 Mr William E McLean Operations Support Biologist Department of Fisheries and Oceans Box 467 Campbell River British Columbia CANADA V9W 5C1 Dear Mr McLean This letter is in response to your inquiry of November 26 1986 concerning health hazards associated with prolonged exposure to dilute solutions of 2 phenoxyethanol As stated on the Material Safety Data Sheet being sent to you animal toxicity studies conducted at the Eastman Kodak Company Health and Environment Laboratories indicate that exposure to the compound produces only slight skin irritation which is not exacerbated by repeated application There is no evidence to suggest that 2 phenoxyethanol is a skin sensitizer It is however a strong eye irritant All blood chemistries were normal following repeated ingestion over a 15 day period While this data does not indicate significant adverse effects from exposure to 2 phenoxyethanol studies by Dow Chemical Company found that repeated exposures in rabbits resulted in absorption of harmful amounts of material through the skin They found that excessive exposure could cause hemolysis i e s
117. r this manual was conducted by T L Nichols and all references to the author in the following pages refer to that particular author It is expected that not everyone will agree with the contents of the manual since the best technical advice possible is necessarily judgemental The benefits from using this manual will differ as well Some locations may achieve the utmost in quality marking with only slight modifications from the present system Others may want to revise completely their current operation to achieve this goal We believe that even extensive changes are well worth the effort 3 WHAT DO I NEED BEFORE I START 1 PERSONNEL Fish tagging is performed using an assembly line system including one two or three tagging machines and a crew complement of taggers fin clippers and supervisors The operation should be continuous throughout the day and proceed consistently for days or weeks until all the fish are marked In personnel terms it is important to ensure that the team is appropriately organized that everyone is well trained and directed and that sufficient supervision is provided to ensure adequate quality control and operational efficiency Team Organization Each site potentially has a different team organization based on different methods of hiring workers and assigning responsibilities Where a contractor is retained a tagging supervisor from the hatchery should be in charge since the tagging crew does not report t
118. rect tag cut off length It is a mistake to remove the rollers shave them down to eliminate the groove and then reinstall them since the diameter of the rollers determines the tag length That is a smaller roller will result ina shorter tag length cut Occasionally the tag injector will load properly the wire will be extended but not cut off In this case the cutter is seized and the remedy is to remove it clean it by soaking in isopropanol and reinsert it 3 QUALITY CONTROL DEVICE QCD The control box within the QCD has three screws a gain delay and pitch The gain is used to detect the tag the delay to determine the amount of time that the water jet stays on and the pitch is merely the horn device on the QCD The QCD should be operated with the lid open and with the jet mechanism clearly visible so that the operator can adjust water flow delay and even the gain without disturbing the operation This approach is more efficient for conducting QCD repairs than having to remove the tag injector opening the lid removing the solenoid cleaning replacing the solenoid putting the lid back on etc Note however that the manufacturer recommends that the QCD lid remain 56 closed since an open lid allows more water on the QCD control box and this is a major cause of failure When troubleshooting the QCD first ensure that the gain delay and pitch settings are appropriate as described in the following sections Gain Setting
119. roper clip the clipper should visually check that the cut has not been too deep In a deep cut the body cavity may be exposed and such fish will succumb fairly quickly after handling If the clipper feels that he or she is cutting air then the critical wad of tissue has probably been missed If the clipper is getting poor clips the problem can be corrected in the vast majority of cases by fixing or changing the scissors It is poor economy to hire a team of clippers to mark thousands of fish yet place the work quality in jeopardy through lack of good scissors However if the scissors prove to be adequate then the individual clipper is at fault and should be monitored for the following how the fish is held whether the scissors are held at the proper angle what part of the scissors is used for clipping perhaps the tips are used when the back of the scissors might be better and whether clipping is done too fast The clipping supervisor must be prepared to re instruct the clipper accept slower speed and carefully check virtually every other fish until a correct clip is obtained At times however an individual worker simply does not have the patience or manual dexterity to do the job and should be replaced The determining factor for good or poor ventral clips is the appearance of the returning adults Generally the Mark Recovery contractor is fully experienced in identifying clips In fact the present contractor has taken great pains
120. round clamp on the nearest cold water pipe Wet conditions while tagging require extra grounding 3 Connect the power cable first to the power supply and then to the injector control box 4 Assemble the QCD by installing the supporting legs attaching the funnel inlet and flexible water lines and connecting the water supply D Connect the other power cable between the tag injector and the QCD then connect th touch switch to the injector 6 Remove the blank head mold base which is protecting the needle and replace it with an appropriate sized mold for the fish to be tagged be careful not to over tighten the screws At this point the tagging machine is assembled correctly according to instructions To ensure proper fish tagging special attention must be paid to appropriate fish size sorting head mold size needle penetration setting machine speed and careful monitoring of tag placement and tag loss 22 Machine Preparation When a tagging machine is taken out of storage for the spring tagging program it must be prepared and adjusted for effective operation The following steps are recommended I Put the rollers back on New machines allow for a pressure release switch that separates the rollers normally tight fitting for storage If the rollers are left pressed together they will develop a flat spot during the storage period resulting in erratic tag placement Clean the cutter assembly with isopropyl alcohol a
121. rs per hatchery Note however that some contractors brought their own scissors and took them away upon completion of the job All surveyed hatcheries resharpened scissors but opinions differed as to the effectiveness of resharpening 35 reported very successful resharpening 55 moderate and 10 poor resharpening success More than one scissors supplier was used and a wide variation in price of scissors 60 to 135 per pair was reported Staff Training Regarding the experience of the marking staff most of the surveyed hatcheries indicated that their marking supervisors had more than four years experience taggers from 2 to 8 years and fin clippers a variable amount of experience Minimum experience standards for marking supervisors were at least one and preferably two seasons while for the taggers more than one year was required as indicated by about two thirds of the hatcheries For the clippers no previous experience was required since manual dexterity and attitude were considered the more important attributes Of 20 respondents 16 hatcheries indicated some turnover in fin clippers and eight hatcheries indicated turnover in taggers The majority of hatcheries 16 of 20 reported that the marking crew was properly trained In most cases training was shared between the contractor and the hatchery staff and additional training was usually conducted by a senior staff member Since the tagging programs ranged from five days to 12 w
122. rs quality control program where each hatchery would send a random sample e g 200 fish of each unique mark release group These would be checked for fin clip quality against a set standard while CWT tagged fish would be dissected for tag placement and decoded to ensure correct codes and clean tag cuts with no scratches D Bailey pers comm 4 Consider setting up some formal mechanism with the Mark Recovery Program to obtain annual data outputs showing ventral fin regeneration for clipped pink and chum and adipose fin regeneration for CWTs D Bailey pers comm 9s Use standardized data forms to record all relevant marking information ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks are extended to all those hatcheries which welcomed Thyra Nichols during her on site evaluations The hatchery personnel s patience with the necessary probing is much appreciated The authors are also grateful to all the hatcheries which took the time to fill out the questionnaires as the information gathered was essential to this manual Don Bailey provided the input and direction for this project and his insight and tenacity are credited for instigating what everyone believed was long overdue Don Bailey Carol Cross Jan Kallshian and Sue Lehman kindly provided editorial comments while Alice Fedorenko edited and prepared the manual for publication The DFO Word Processing Unit typed the final drafts Finally the contribution of the fish themselves is acknowle
123. s the anaesthetized fish and distributes them in groups of 20 30 into each fin clipper s basin 2 Each clipper while the fish are still anaesthetized gently picks up individual fish and clips off the adipose fin see section below on Fin Clipping The fish is then judged by the clipper to be either large or small and placed in the appropriate transfer trough Figs 1 and 2 3 While the clipped fish is still anaesthetized each tagger gently picks up the fish with one hand head protruding between thumb and forefinger and inserts the snout into the nose mold of the tagging machine With the other hand he she presses the tag eject button to insert the tag into the nose cartilage and then drops the tagged fish into the QCD funnel of the tagging machine 4 The quality control device of the tagging machine QCD then separates the untagged from the tagged fish Fish with a tag s directed by a water jet into the tagged container Fish not tagged or accidentally dropped automatically goes into the reject container The number of fish tagged and the number of rejects are recorded automatically and separately by the counting device on the QCD machine Note that the QCD only identifies that there is a tag somewhere in the fish The only way to determine whether or not the tag placement is correct is to sacrifice the fish and cut into the nose cartilage Improperly tagged fish may have the tag close to the surface of the snout or deep in t
124. sh The infection incidence was usually 1 or less of the marked population One third of the surveyed hatcheries attempted handling smolting fish and in most cases problems developed even at relatively low water temperatures 8 C 9 C Holding and mixing strategies differed for different species but most marked fish were held for no more than 3 7 days before remixing In 11 of 19 hatcheries marked fish were remixed with unmarked fish often immediately upon recovery from the anaesthetic or within 1 or 2 days of marking Information on long term tag retention was available for nine of 21 hatcheries The general comment was that if tagging was done properly the long term tag retention should be stable Most respondents considered a desirable holding period before release to be approximately two weeks for all species This would allow the fish to recover from tagging stress However in many cases marked chum fry were not held long enough before release This was because of the short time interval between the time when the fry reached a proper tagging size and the time for release Quality Control All hatcheries employed their own staff to perform quality control checks throughout the marking operation even when a contractor also performed quality checks The frequency of checking varied from 100 fish once daily to 10 fish five times daily etc The majority of clip checking involved a vial inspection 84 rather than a microscope 16
125. sh than their team mates Such competitiveness usually leads to substandard clips and sometimes inflated numbers While on the job clippers are able to see only their own counter and basin The supervisor records the numbers from each counter and then resets it to zero It is human nature that workers will want to see the supervisor s clipping records to compare their own performance with that of the other clippers It is recommended that the records remain confidential and that clippers ask their supervisor for ways in which they could improve Visibility of the Ventral Fin Clip Area When checking for ventral fin clip quality a small number of anaesthetized fish should be placed in a water filled glass vial and viewed under a magnifier with a good light source The vial should be turned around in the light to allow the curve of the glass to magnify the fins sufficiently to look at the completeness of the clip Although dissecting microscopes also have been used for this purpose they usually result in slower checking i e require more adjustment time and cause more eye strain Also microscopes generally do not allow accurate viewing of the fin clip area 42 Determination of Good and Poor Ventral Clips When the ventral fin is clipped properly the clipper should feel a small crunch indicating that the joint of muscle and bone tissue where the fin meets the body of the fish has been amputated After completing what feels like a p
126. some of the newer machines and also in those sent back for servicing In this case a setting of 52 or 53 may have to be used Do a test tag with a nose mold Replace the blank wire spool with the correct coded spool Cut it two times and turn on the interrupt switch Push the button once to extend the needle and leave it in this position Estimate the correct size of head mold to be used for the size of fish to be tagged and place the mold in position Turn off the interrupt switch Insert an anaesthetized test fish and push the button again to tag the fish Slice 23 lengthwise the head of the tagged fish and check for the correct tag placement also see section below on Tag Positioning 4 CHOOSE THE ANAESTHETIC It is the author s opinion that proper use of the anaesthetic is a primary factor in avoiding fish mortalities and in facilitating proper fish handling during the tagging operation Since new drugs and techniques are rapidly developing new biotechnical data should be made available to the tagging operators as soon as possible In addition a special effort should be made to improve communication between hatcheries and ensure that written records of past experiences are available in order to train new personnel effectively and avoid repeating past mistakes At permanent marking stations it is desirable to circulate water or refrigeration Lines around anaesthetic basins This measure reduces the risk of temperature sho
127. st tagging mortality prior to release e g mortality of coho due to cannibalism Disease Treatment Fish being treated for disease should not be marked as the extra stress from tagging will probably result in high mortalities It is recommended to wait one week after termination of treatment before commencing tagging to ensure full recovery from both the disease and treatment While fish should not be treated for disease immediately before marking all equipment e g nets brushes bowls tables buckets etc should nevertheless be disinfected before marking begins and while handling different groups of fish Even when obvious disease signs are not apparerit tagging stress can precipitate a disease outbreak which could spread rapidly cie the hatchery by way of contaminated equipment Smolting Fish Fish should not be tagged if they are in the process of smolting The physical characteristics of smolting fish are difficult to notice when the fish are in hatchery containers but will become apparent when the fish are anaesthetized and handled Smolting fish lose their parr marks and silver up The developing small fragile scales come off easily when the smolting fish are 13 handled as during adipose fin clipping when the scissors are moved up the back of the fish The loss of scales and clip wounds render smolting fish much more vulnerable to fungus infections of affected areas Smolting fish are also more readily anaesthetized F
128. st use out of this piece If the cutter is not re assembled using the same edge that edge can be wasted by abandoning one side after only 10 000 cuts when it could have provided 100 000 cuts Appendices A B and G contain information from the manufacturer on cleaning and maintenance of the tagging machines and describe fully the machine parts and their assembly Refer to these appendices for further details 2 TAG INJECTOR Tag Injector Jamming Jamming is not a major issue provided the workers are competent at fixing _the problem Remember that the machine will jam rarely with regular maintenance i e keeping it clean making sure the back of the needle funnel provides a smooth clean entry for the needle examining the cutting edge and examining the tags being cut i e looking at the cut tag edge under the microscope to assure that it is a clean cut Sometimes a machine will jam all day long and then perform well for the next two weeks Why does a machine jam If a machine is not clean If the needle is bent If the funnel where the wire feeds into the needle has the slightest scar or dent on it Fig 7 If the cutter edge is worn out and bending the rear of the cut tag If the rollers have a worn out spot so that they are not pushing the wire out properly 52 GOOD DAMAGED FUNNEL FUNNEL Figure 7 Needle funnel showing new A and worn B condition 53 If there is a power surge or outage and the m
129. stman Kodak Company Eastman Kodak Company 343 State Street 343 Stata Street Rochester NY 14650 Rachester NY 14650 USA USA For Emergency Infermation 716 722 5151 Sn An nn PS INGREDIENT INFORMATION SSeRROBRNSESS SSS SSS See aeRSRS TS SSH SSS SSS SaaS TAME Ta EPA Percent CAS Reg No 2 Fhenoxyathanol 122 99 6 OREYETIRIALCIDZI SSS SSR AICA AOS ZAIDA PHYSICAL BATA ARMAS A REA DL FSS SS DIAN EIA CDA TANIA EIA CID SS SS ee ewe SS Ses AAA Appaarance Colorless to nearly colorless liquid Boiling Point 245 C 473 F Vepor Pressure LT 0 82 matig 20 Evaporation Rate n butyl acetata 1 Not Available Vapor Density Air 1 4 8 Volatile Fraction by Weight Negligible Specific Gravity water 1 1 1 Solubility in Water by Weight Slight Heat of Decomposition 0 59 kcal g Calculated by ASTM Program CHETAH RSE ZIRE SISI EII zumo FIRE AND EXPLOSION HAZARD DATA CORPORAL DIE RI RIA Flash Point 116 240 F Setafiash closed cup Extinguishing Media Water spray Dry chemical Carbon dioxide Special Fire Fighting Procedures Wear self contained breathing apparatus and protective clothing to prevent contact with skin and eves Unusual Fire and Explosion Hazerds None known RALES HASSE STH TH EARS SS SSS SS TAT IA DIGA DE DEDICAR R 0286 500B 2 FERIA SRST EDEMA ARIADNA AZ SR EEE SES EE RAMIREZ SL 5 1 REACTIVITY DATA Baas A AA Stability Stable Incompatibility Strong oxidizers Hazardo
130. ta 3 Data 4 When referring to a particular code the convention is to list the Agency code first followed by the Data codes in their respective order For example if Agency 9 ordered a group of tags with Data 1 3 Data 2 7 Data 3 15 and Data 4 1 that code would he described as 9 3 7 15 1 If you visualize the surface of the above tag unrolled as if it were a flat it would look like this 8s 4s 28 1s COLUMN IDENTIFICATION 1 1 1 1 MASTER WORD 1 1 1 DATA 1 3 1 1 1 DATA 2 7 1 1 AGENCY 9 1 1 1 1 DATA 3 15 1 DATA 4 1 Common parity bit for all fields Parity also referred to as check In order to provide additional protection against coding errors and to assist decoding when tags are damaged or marks are otherwise obscured an odd parity convention is used iy Fe The 8 s position in Data 1 is reserved as the common parity bit for all fields and never has a value The convention is that the sum of the number of bits in Agency plus the four Data words is odd Master word bits are not considered in parity Note that is is the number of bits that must be odd not the value of the bits In the above example the number of bits required to form the code is 12 Since the number of bits must be odd the parity bit is added to make the number of bits 13 Code Position on Cut Tags The code information on the six sides of the wire is repeated continuously every four spaces Since tags are cut slightly longer than fo
131. table at the surveyed hatcheries Tag Loss Hatchery Species Weight g 24 hr 96 hr Mortality Capilano Coho 10 20 5 lt 0 25 Chinook 2 5 8 5 lt 0 25 Chehalis Chum 0 9 3 0 5 Chinook 1 5 3 0 5 Coho 9 3 0 5 Chilliwack Coho 15 2 5 lt 0 1 Chinook 6 2 5 lt 0 1 Clearwater Chinook gt 3 0 lt 5 0 coho gt 3 0 lt 5 0 Conuma Coho 10 1 2 0 5 Chinook 3 5 1 2 0 25 Eagle Chinook 2 1 2 lt 0 5 Coho 1 6 3 5 lt 0 5 Inch Chum 0 9 1 1 5 0 5 Coho 13 20 5 0 5 Chinook 5 10 5 0 5 Kitimat Chinook 10 1 2 0 Chum 1 2 5 10 lt 1 0 Coho 20 1 2 0 Little Qualicum Chinook 4 0 5 1 0 Nitinat Chinook 2 2 4 O 3 5 0 1 0 2 Coho 1 2 5 0 4 05 Pallant Chum 1 5 2 5 lt 2 5 lt 2 0 Coho 2 lt 2 3 lt 1 0 Chinook 2 5 lt 2 3 lt 1 0 Puntledge Coho 2 25 2 0 1 Coho 15 2 0 1 Chinook 5 5 2 0 1 Chum 1 2 0 1 Quesnel Chinook 2 1 0 4 Coho 5 1 0 4 Quinsam Chinook Coho O 2 0 Robertson All Species 1 2 0 1 Snootli Chinook 2 5 6 10 0 4 Coho 1 5 3 Spius Chinook Coho 2 5 5 4 7 lt 0 05 Chinook 3 5 1 lt 1 0 Per week t angor Over a 2 week period Up to one month holding period Over a 7 to 10 day period Up to 10 loss after 5 days Over an 8 month period 40 complete adipose fins also contained coded wire tags it is impossible to say what proportion of the fins did or did not regenerate J Thomas Mark Recovery Program pers comm indicated that chum and pink adults which are tagged at a very s
132. ted that either they did not know what kind of equipment and set up a contractor used or that the set up was too difficult to describe in the context of the questionnaire Those hatchery staff using a discrete area for tagging e g building or trailer seemed the most satisfied with their set up Most of the hatcheries responded that their tagging operations were located indoors rather than outdoors In fact four sites had a trailer or a separate building for tagging Also while most sites were set up as general marking areas five hatcheries indicated that they used separate locations for each of the coded wire tagging and fin marking operators Only three tagging locations were not heated Evaluation of the tagging set up in different hatcheries was made difficult by the large site to site variation However it is suspected that many of the holding containers were too small to hold more than one or two hours worth of fish Also at about one third of the surveyed hatcheries dissolved oxygen and or temperature were not monitored in the holding containers presumably because the hatchery staff were satisfied with the ambient water quality Most of the hatcheries used portable rather than permanent marking tables There was no clear preference for one surface material over another although metal tables appeared to be the least common Approximately one third of the hatcheries indicated that their clippers did not have their own basins altho
133. the QCD machine able to distinguish accurately between the presence and absence of a metal tag Check the gain setting on the machine Occasionally the QCD will not sort fish properly due to a poor adjustment of the water jets The jets can 31 be adjusted to stay on longer to accommodate larger fish slower tagging rate and or weaker water pressure 2 Machine problem Is the tagging machine not inserting the tag properly Improper head mold size improper needle position etc may be at fault 3 Tagger problem Is the machine operator not tagging correctly Taggers do have bad days and the tagging supervisor should monitor how the fish is held how it is inserted into the head mold and whether the hand machine coordination is appropriate i e is the tagger getting ahead of the machine Also do not forget to check whether tag spool has run out Other Return all left over wire and empty spools to the DFO Coded Wire Tag Coordinator or to the Program Coordination and Assessment Division Do not re use left over wire for tagging other species or stocks or for setting up your tagging machine If you need wire for machine set up Northwest Marine Technology 206 468 3375 will provide free of charge wire coded with our agency 02 only 6 FIN CLIPPING Hand Movement The following sections describe how to hold and manipulate the fish during fin clipping Adipose fin The fish should be held in the palm of the left
134. the inner core of the cutter has a slash mark on it indicating which edge is being used If the slash mark is up the machine is using either edge 1 or 2 if the slash mark is down the machine is using either edge 3 or 4 To use cutter edge 1 insert the cutter so that the slash mark is up then set the control switch on the control box to so that the machine will select edge 1 Recording Number of Cuts A cutter maintenance book should be kept at each injector box to ensure that the operators keep a record of cutter use Most importantly when other workers borrow tagging machines they should also be required to keep a maintenance log on the tag injector This way when the machine is returned the original operators can sort out the history of the cutters and determine 58 whether or not the previous operation is a factor in machine jamming The maintenance book should contain a log of any changes to the cutters the number of injector counts when the cutters were changed the date when new needles or rollers were installed etc Figure 8 shows an example of a cutter maintenance log sheet Note that in the event of poor cutter performance a cutter log provides valuable reference when dealing with the manufacturer Table 7 shows that cutter performance was monitored at only eight of the surveyed hatcheries and that estimated cuts per cutter varied widely from 50 000 to 500 000 In practise the taggers should begin with edge 1 by
135. tight Remove the spool carefully loosen the wire and replace with a new spool or leave the spool off the post and peel off 6 8 of wire before proceeding with tagging No Power On occasion the tagging machine will be set up and the power switched on but no power will reach the machine and QCD as evidenced by the red indicator light In such a case check the fuse in the power pack although usually the fuse does not need replacing If it is determined that the cord carries power but none is reaching the machine try a different power pack If this measure works send the non working power pack to the Northwest Marine Technology for repairs as it cannot be fixed on site Poor Cycling Occasionally when the machine is plugged in and the power is on the machine will not cycle although the lights are on The first step is to try a new touch switch If this does not work then the control box within the tag injector is likely at fault Use a spare control box If this measure succeeds send the faulty control box for repairs to the Northwest Marine Technology as this unit cannot be fixed on site om 55 Sometimes the machine will run erratically particularly in a situation where the power source is a generator that may not be providing close to 120 V The machines do not require all of 120 V they will run on 115 V but if the generator is providing e g 103 V the tagging machines will not run properly The cycle will be fast on on
136. to ensure whether a clip is present or not including feeling for the bumps on the ventral fin rays where regeneration may have occurred However when large numbers of fish are being checked for marks usually the case with pink and chum it is easy to miss questionable fin clips Also in hatchery situations checking for marks is rarely the only activity and both questionable and good marks can often be missed by the busy and perhaps inexperienced staff In most situations it is fairly easy to determine a true ventral clip Occassionally the ventral fin may be obviously misshapen in the returning adult In the case where the tail of the ventral fin remains the evidence of a clip is unquestionable despite a partial regrowth of the fin In this case the ventral tail remaining on the fish should be considered a good clip When in doubt the bumps on the fin rays where the fin regenerated are usually obvious on close inspection In questionable situations bite marks and other scars are often present on the fish body wall to indicate naturally missing fins rather than true clips It is recommended that during clipping all ventral fin clips be judged either good or poor and the clip counts adjusted accordingly This approach rejects the 4 zone system that had been used previously to judge ventral fin clips The 4 zone system determined percentage reductions in clip counts based on the zone of the fin where the clip was made and the like
137. tol Court SW Olympia Washington 98502 206 754 4304 Reading Instructions for Replicate Binary Coded Wire Tags rev 4 88 Replicate coding is a method for producing several statistically indistinguishable groups of tagged fish from one larger group Replicate tags are identical to standard binary coded wire tags with two exceptions 1 A new Master Word format 2 Parity bits are no longer error check bits Instead they represent an additional 3 bit binary number range 0 7 New Master Word Format The replicate tag Master Word indicates the presence of replicate coding The present standard tag Master Word 00111 111 becomes the replicate Master Word 00101 113 Additional 3 bit Binary Number If the Master Word is modified as shown above then the parity bits are no longer error check bits They are to be interpreted as a 3 bit binary number range 0 7 which identifies the replicate number using the following convention Word DATA2 AGENCY DATA Decimal Replicate parity o 0 1 1 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 4 For example 1 1 0 6 At this time we do not use the replicate index number O 000 This allows for a maximum of 7 replicate codes Note that aside from the meaning of the parity bits and a new Master Word nothing else changes The same agency codes will be retained 1f a user chooses to ignore the replicate coding the scheme becomes transparent having no effect on the data Parity Convention Because repli
138. tructed fourth clipping basin also provided with a net liner is placed on feats of the tagging table next to the anaesthetic basin Fig 1 Tagging basins The two tagging basins are formed fibreglass basins 11 wide and 4 deep and each with a 4 drain hole see below Each tagging basin has a net liner constructed as described above for the clipping basins Anaesthetic basins The single anaesthetic basin consists of a Rubbermaid Dish Basin 14 x 5 placed in the 13 diameter hole cut in the table Unlike the other basins the anaesthetic basin has no net liner Transfer troughs Transfer troughs are used for transferring size sorted fish from clippers to taggers and are made from 3 schedule 40 PVC piping Two 7 foot sections of piping are cut in half lengthwise A table saw with a fine toothed blade has worked well in the past After cutting the rough pipe edges are filed Laying the cut pipes on the tagging table will help determine at what point to cut the correct length of piping and attach the 45 degree pipe angle which was also cut in half The piece cut off at the end can then be used to take the fish from the angle to the tagging basin Fig 1 The end fitting where the hoses attach consists of a round fitting which allows for a screw cap and a standard hose coupling to be attached This assembly and all others are glued together with PVC primer and glue You may also choose to silicone the gap where the two pieces o
139. ually below Anaesthetic Mis use Anaesthetic mis use is the primary cause of fish handling mortalities The length of time the fish are left in the anaesthetic bath and the concentration of anaesthetic are the primary concerns Note that 1 Leaving the fish in an anaesthetic bath too long will result in fish kill 2 Not changing the anaesthetic frequently enough will result in oxygen depletion and increase in the bath temperature both factors leading to fish stress and possible mortality It is the author s experience that the anaesthetic bath temperature can rise 2 C within just over half an hour This increase is sufficient to shock the fish but this state is not apparent when they are immobilized Assuming correct anaesthetic concentration the following precautions are recommended to minimize tagging mortality from anaesthetic mis use 1 Carefully monitor the length of time that the fish are immersed in the anaesthetic bath 2 Change the anaesthetic bath every half hour and provide constant aeration and temperature monitoring to assure adequate oxygen levels and an even ambient temperature in the anaesthetic bath om 45 Since a proper anaesthetizing procedure is a crucial part of the marking operation retain the same person in charge of the anaesthetic throughout the operation if that person shows ability to keep the fish alive See also section below on Poor Water Quality Deep Clips Deep clips sustained during
140. uch of the data useless In most cases economics demand that only a portion of the hatchery s output be tagged Unless special experimental groups are present the tagged fish must represent the entire hatchery production group It is therefore imperative that the marking crew organize a non selective operation Accordingly there should be no pre tagging selection for optimum fish size condition or timing pattern among the tagged group only 2 Sufficient numbers of fish should be tagged to ensure that given expected survival rates enough tags will be recovered to provide a statistically reliable data base for resource managers Most hatcheries mark a minimum of 75 000 fed chum fry 75 000 coho fry 50 000 juvenile chinook and 10 000 coho smolts Some hatcheries may mark more fish to compensate for lower survival rates that are inherent at upriver production sites e g Quesnel Hatchery or are the result of smaller size at release e g chum tagging or expected overwinter mortalities e g coho tagging for later release In addition multiple tag codes can be used on large groups of fish to determine statistical variation in survival among identical groups and to evaluate different experimental groups within a hatchery population FISHERY OBJECTIVES FIN CLIPPING Adipose and ventral fin clipping is often used as a way of marking anadromous fish where fish size is too small and where the cost is too high for coded wire tagging
141. ugh it was unclear whether this referred to anaesthetic and or recovery basins Of the 19 responding hatcheries approximately half had recirculating water over the marking tables The majority 15 of hatcheries measured water temperature during tagging and approximately half of these hatcheries used a thermograph or a hand held thermometer immersed in the water Of the 18 hatcheries responding 14 aerated the water while tagging mostly by bubbling air and or recirculating water All the hatcheries indicated the use of overhead fluorescent lights and seven hatcheries also used lighted magnifying lamps when required Regarding the size of the tagging operation most of the surveyed hatcheries indicated that they normally used two machines only six hatcheries reported the use or the possible use of more machines Table 7 Altogether 49 tagging machines excluding spares were used for marking by the 20 surveyed hatcheries all but five machines were old blue MKII or MKIII models Of these 41 were located on site and 19 including spares were borrowed from neighbouring hatcheries Approximately 60 of the hatcheries reported one spare machine The MKIV tagging machines were used at three hatcheries and while opinions varied on their tagging speed these machines were considered good for repairs maintenance and ease of operation Of the 19 hatcheries responding only six indicated the correct ratio of fin clippers to taggers 2 1 while the ot
142. ugs are not permitted to be sold for human consumption Also presumably potential health hazards exist for workers who have their hands immersed daily in either of these two drugs The exposure time is different for on site hatchery workers tagging their own fish since such workers are exposed for only a few weeks each season compared to travelling crews who are exposed daily for up to 10 months each season At present no concrete information exists on actual and potential health hazards or how these may vary with exposure time and working conditions Carbon dioxide while appearing to be the safest of all the anaesthetics described will cause headaches in the tagging crew if the tagging area is not well ventilated as the gas will eventually bubble into the air Marinal may prove to be a very safe workable alternative but it has yet to receive sufficient field testing to demonstrate its adequacy 26 5 CODED WIRE TAGGING Basic Operations 1 Fish are dip netted from the hatchery holding container into a portable bucket equipped with an aeration system one or two airstones or a continuous water flow into the bucket About 700 800 fish can be held in a 5 gallon pail assuming a 2 5 g average fish size with fewer fish at a larger size Fish removed from this container are subjected to an anaesthetic bath where they should remain for no more than a few minutes depending on the anaesthetic used The senior tagger or tag supervisor net
143. ur spaces actual tags may be cut at any point in the word The previously illustrated tag code 9 3 7 15 1 cut between the 4s and 2s column would look like this 28 15 8s 4s COLUMN IDENTIFICATION 1 1 4 1 MASTER WORD 1 1 1 DATA 1 3 1 1 1 DATA 2 7 1 1 AGENCY 9 1 1 1 1 DATA 3 15 1 DATA 4 1 Parity bit as described above As always if you have questions or comments please feel free to contact us a Northwest Marine Technology Inc Shaw Island Washington 98286 206 468 2340 To CWT Coordinators and Users From NMT Staff Subj Coding for half length 020 tags Below is a brief explanation of the coding for half length 020 tags The same principles are used for coding half length tags and standard six bit tags Column Check 4 2 1 Master 0 1 L Data 1 3 e g 1 0 1 1 Agency 5 e g 1 1 0 1 Data 2 4 e g 0 1 0 0 There are two features in common with the six bit scheme 1 The master word contains an immediately identifiable half interval mark 2 The three data words use the fourth column as a check bit The rule is the same as the rule for six bit tags the number of ls in any word including the check bit must be odd This scheme allows 512 different codes Tf organized as the example above that means there are 8 Agency codes each of which has 64 different data codes The reduced data capacity of the half length tag compared to the six bit tag is apparent however we d
144. us Deconposition Products As with any other organic material combustion will produce carbon dioxide and probably carbon monoxide Hazardous Polymerization Will not occur PE TOXICOLOGICAL PROPERTIES ASIMILA CE lA TA AA ZST III A RARA VAR ST EXPOSURE LIMITS ACGIH Threshold Limit Value TLV Not Established OSHA Permissible Exposure Limit PEL Not Established EXPOSURE EFFECTS Inhelation Low hazard for usual industrial handling Skin May be harmful if absorbed through the skin Eye Liquid causes burns t Ingestion Expacted to be low ingestion hazard TOXICITY DATA Test Species Result Acute Oral LD50 Rat M 1350 mg kg Acute Oral LD50 Rat CF 1909 ng kg Skin Absorption Guinea Pig No avidence of absorption at 20 mL kg Skin Irritation Guinea Pig Slight Eye Irritation Rabbit Strong washing was palliative Repeated Skin Application Slight with no exacerbation Skin Sensitization None sensitized Other Repeated skin application in rabbits of 600 and 1000 mg kg day has resulted in severa hesatological effects acute dermal LDS0 for rabbits is ca 2 0 g kg Feeding Study Rats were given 100 300 and 1000 mg kg day by gevege 5 days week for 11 doses Feed Intake Normal Weight Gein Slightly decreased only in high dose group Clinical Signs Reduced activity and general depression in high dose group Hematology Normal Clinical Chemistry Slightly increased ALT and AST for high dose group Histopathology Normal
145. water temperatures are high providing the fish are already under treatment for disease or they show other signs of stress However it is recommended that post marking treatment not include antibiotics as such treatment could encourage the growth of resistant fungus strains Poor Water Quality Water quality can deteriorate rapidly during the course of a tagging operation causing fish stress and increased mortalities Water quality testing should be conducted on 1 source water used at tagging tables 2 anaesthetic bath and 3 receiving water 1 Source water used at tagging tables e g water pumped from the head tank Check the following i Clarity should have no suspended solids ii Dissolved oxygen should be at or near saturation level Increase low oxygen levels with aeration 46 iii pH if it is below the hatchery norm buffer the anaesthetic bath iv Temperatures see Table 1 for maximum temperatures during tagging Note that having different temperatures in different holding containers can also stress the transferred fish 2 Anaesthetic bath see also section above on Anaesthetic Mis use The anaesthetic bath should be changed at least every half hour primarily to maintain ambient temperature but also to ensure a constant dosage level Rising temperatures will affect the potency of the anaesthetic and increase the speed at which the fish succumbs Water temperature in the anaesthetic bath can change v
146. within the raceways so that a portion of the fish can be isolated and starved without disturbing the rest of the population Similarly large channels or earthen ponds holding fish should have net pens within them to isolate groups of fish appropriately rather than seining out large numbers of juveniles and holding and starving them as one group For hatcheries using Capilano troughs 16 Table 5 Comparison of numbers of scissors used and replacement rates at the surveyed hatcheries as determined from questionnaire returns Pairs of Scissors Pairs of Scissors Hatchery Used per Season Replaced per Season Big Qualicum 8 8 Capilano 3 6 2 4 Chehalis 6 6 Chemainus Chilliwack 6 12 6 Clearwater 20 None to date Conuma 20 5 Eagle 9 2 Inch 12 20 6 Kitimat 12 4 Little Qualicum 10 3 4 Nitinat 12 2 3 Pallant 15 20 2 Puntledge 12 6 Quesnel 8 1 2 Quinsam 16 3 4 Robertson 12 3 Shuswap 5 None to date Snootli 10 1 2 Spius 1 pr per person None to date Tender foot 6 l 203 225 60 67 17 the trough should be divided in half so that at any one time only half the fish are crowded moved around and subjected to swirling dipnets while the remaining fish can be shaded and isolated Wherever possible fish should be brought into the tagging area the previous evening and left to cclimatize overnight before the next day s pre tagging crowding and handling In some hatcheries such as the Eagle River this step is
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