GLFC Home PageGREAT LAKES FINCLIP RESERVATION SERVICE
AND CONVENTION FOR CODED WIRE TAG USE
Please contact this office if you are planning to finclip salmon and trout for stocking in the Great Lakes.
The GLFC Secretariat provides a coordinating service for Great Lakes agencies whose studies require finclipping of salmonids. Our purpose in providing this service is to minimize the likelihood of researchers compromising each others' studies through use of the same clip on indistinguishable lots of salmonids. We also seek to space finclips over the years so as to minimize the need for time-consuming ageing of scales,etc. An additional benefit of this service is that we are in a position to assist biologists in determining the origin of stray clipped salmonids.
Great Lakes agencies have several agreements which govern assignment of finclips. The first is that all lake trout planted in the Great Lakes must be marked. The purpose for this is to ensure that assessment biologists may distinguish naturally reproduced lake trout from finclipped hatchery reared fish, and thereby monitor progress in rehabilitation. (Some variance from this directive has been allowed for research on early life stages which are difficult to mark.)
A second major agreement is the following convention for coded wire tag use in the Great Lakes:
1. Agency codes will be used with a maximum of two assigned per agency. (1979)
2. Agency codes will be marked on the third data row according to the West Coast convention. (1980)
3. The GLFC will coordinate and assign the agency codes. (1980) Note: The Secretariat confines itself to keeping a reference list of agency codes since the tag manufacturer assigns numbers itself.
4. Single adipose clips are reserved for use with coded wire tags (1986) except in the following cases where coded wire tags are not employed:
Lake Species
All Atlantic salmon
Erie brook, rainbow, and brown trout
Ontario brook, rainbow, brown trout, and coho salmon.
Lake trout stocked in Lake Superior with coded wire tags can be identified by an adipose right ventral finclip.(1987)
Recent findings on the extensive movements of salmon and trout in the Great Lakes suggest that some finclip and recapture studies may be compromised by finclips assigned to other lakes. Researchers are urged to consider using coded wire tags, and to consider developing lakewide or basinwide coordination in their studies. Much has been learned through such cooperative studies on Lake Michigan salmon and Great Lakes lake trout.
Our finclip reservation system must be comprehensive in order to be of value to all Great Lakes researchers and managers. Please contact this office if you are planning to finclip salmon and trout for stocking in the Great Lakes Basin. You will be asked for the following information: lake and stocking location, species, brood year (when eggs fertilized) or year class (when eggs hatch), and number of fish. A finclip will be reserved for your agency's use, and you will be informed of its most recent past and projected future use.
Margaret Dochoda
9 November 1987
GLFC Home Page